Official: Match-fixing a serious problem

PARIS: The possibility of match-fixing in tennis is a "serious problem", although major efforts are being made to make sure it does not happen at the Paris Masters, French Tennis Federation (FFT) president Christian Bimes said on Monday.

"It's a serious problem. I have learned, for example, that there have even been attempts at Grand Slam tournaments," Bimes said following Sunday's start to the tournament.

"It's a major concern and affects the entire tennis world. We must be very vigilant and very severe. I hope this will be treated with the same severity as doping."

Bimes was speaking only hours before French professional Arnaud Clement revealed that he had been approached by a third party about throwing a game.

"It's happened to me. I won't say where, nor the sum I was offered, but I've already been asked to throw a match," Clement said after his first round defeat to Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

The FFT chief said information on the volume of betting involved in the game was being collected through the professional players association (ATP) and the European lotteries network.

The French national betting operator Francais des Jeux (FDJ) will be monitoring betting activity during the Masters tournament.

FDJ will monitor the betting patterns on four national lottery companies from Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia and Switzerland, and should any irregular betting be discovered, FDJ will inform the French tennis federation.

The move follows irregular betting on a match which Russia's world No 4 Nikolay Davydenko lost to unheralded Martin Vassallo Arguello at Sopot in August, despite Davydenko taking the first set.

Davydenko aroused suspicion following irregular betting patterns prior to the first-round match against the Argentine Arguello in Poland in August.

Davydenko came under the spotlight again earlier last week when he was fined $2,000 for not trying hard enough during his shock defeat to Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic at St Petersburg.

Bimes said all matches are being recorded at the Masters, where Davydenko is the defending champion, and when the match and betting analyses indicate suspect performances then the information will be provided to the police.

"They (the police) are the only ones who can undertake certain types of investigation," he said.

The measures will be evaluated at the end of the Paris Masters before being implemented at the French Open at Roland-Garros next year.

The ATP is also cracking down on any possible match-fixing with president Etienne De Villiers vowing possible life bans for anyone found guilty of involvement in match-fixing.

Clement believes he is unlikely to be approached again, but he believes that the authorities have to hit hard to stamp corruption out.

"They should throw (the perpetrators) off the circuit. It's a really preoccupying situation," added the Frenchman.

"It can happen to everyone to get fed up with (playing) a match. But I've already seen matches where players have thrown good points away."

AFP

(China Daily 10/31/2007 page24)