Tennis authorities are conducting an independent anti-corruption review after a BBC/BuzzFeed News investigation into suspected illegal betting on tennis matches.
“In 2012 we had 14 [alerts],” said Willerton. “In 2013 there were 46, in 2014, there were 91 and then last year 246. The Argentinas, Chiles, South America and Russia is where we are seeing several of the alerts originating. In some cultures, corruption is the only way they do their business.” Since the end of 2014 betting operators have started to take wagers on the lower level matches and Willerton doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that the markers have risen since then.
Collectively, the grand slams have generated five alerts over the past three years. Whereas the Futures and Challenger levels have reported far more alerts to date.