Breaking news: ATP bans doubles specialists Cermak and Mertinak for betting
The Czech Republic’s Frantisek Cermak and Slovakia’s Michal Mertinak, doubles specialists, both coming off tournament titles, have become the latest players to be banned and fined for sports betting on tennis matches. The two Eastern European doubles specialists were suspended after being found guilty of gambling on tennis matches, the ATP announced on Monday (July, 21 2008).
Neither player wagered on his own matches, and an independent hearing officer found no evidence of any intent to affect the outcome of matches bet upon, the governing body of men’s tennis said.
Cermak, the Czech tennis player ranked 34th in doubles, was found guilty of sports betting on matches other than his own between September 2006 and February 2007 by the probe conducted by the ATP. He was suspended for 10 weeks beginning Monday and fined $15,000 (Euro 9,450). He is ranked 34th in doubles and teamed with Rogier Wassen to win the doubles title Sunday at the Dutch Open.
Mertinak, a Slovak tennis player ranked 616th in the world and 37th in doubles, was charged with gambling on the outcomes of matches in October 2006. He was suspended for two weeks and fined $3,000. He teamed with Petr Pala to win the doubles Sunday at the Croatia Open.
In April, a report into betting in the sport found irregularities in 45 matches played in the last five years, with its authors urging tennis’s three ruling bodies (ATP, WTA and ITF) to implement radical change.
The ATP’s anti-corruption programme has taken steps to combat gambling since an online betting site voided all bets on a match involving top-five player Nikolay Davydenko last year because of suspicious gambling patterns.
Five Italians have been suspended and fined for betting on tennis. Other players have come forward to say they were approached by people trying to influence a match.
“The ATP’s tennis anti-corruption program is clear that gambling on any form of tennis match will not be tolerated,” said Gayle David Bradshaw, ATP executive vice president. “The program was introduced to ensure the integrity of our sport, and all connected to the tour have a duty and responsibility to ensure that integrity is upheld.”
At Wimbledon last month, the ATP board approved new match-fixing sanctions recommended by an independent panel.
Under new guidelines, players are required to report any suspicious contact from gambling syndicates within 48 hours of being approached. Sanctions range up to life bans for players found guilty of match fixing. Players and their families and entourages also could be banned from sports betting on matches.
U.S. Open latest news, 2008 July 18
Roger Federer will attempt to break his own record for consecutive titles to five in New York, while Rafael Nadal hopes to add a first hardcourt Grand Slam to his growing collection of Major trophies.
Last year’s runner-up Novak Djokovic and British number one Andy Murray join world number one Federer and world number two Nadal on the list of players for the August 25 to September 7 tournament.
British number one Andy Murray has withdrawn from next week’s Indianapolis Tennis Championships to better prepare for the Olympics and the U.S. Open. The 21-year-old has returned to the world’s top 10 after reaching the quarter-finals at this year’s Wimbledon where he lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal of Spain.
Former winners Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin are also part of the field that includes nine past Grand Slam champions, while Juan Carlos Ferrero is the only other previous tennis finalist in this year’s tournament.
World number 103 Sergio Roitman was the 104th and final player to receive direct entry into the men’s field. Organizers will award eight wild cards and the 16 remaining entries will be decided by a qualifying tournament.
Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are among the five past U.S. Open women’s champions in the tournament field announced Thursday.
Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the other previous winners entered in the hard-court Grand Slam tournament.
Both the men’s and women’s champions will receive $1.5 million (£750,000) in prize money with a chance to earn up to $2.5 million (£1.25 million) in bonus money on the basis of results in the North American summer hardcourt series.
Swiss world number one Roger Federer claimed the largest payoff in tennis history, 2.4 million dollars, for winning both the US Open Series and the Flushing Meadows tennis title last year.
ITF hires police officers
Tennis’s governing bodies hired two former London police officers who investigated corruption in cricket and horse racing to assess the threat of gambling and potential match-fixing in tennis. Jeffrey Rees and Ben Gunn will advise the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the men’s and women’s tours and the four Grand Slam tournaments on setting up a tennis-wide integrity unit, the governing bodies said in a joint statement.Rees established and still runs an anti-corruption unit for the Dubai-based International Cricket Council, while Gunn led a group examining integrity in the British horse racing industry and is a commissioner for the U.K. Gambling Commission. “This independent review by experts in the field will give us a more comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand and allow us to take specific measures to protect our sport now and for the future” Bill Babcock, the ITF’s executive director, said in the statement. Tennis is assessing the threat posed by gambling after suspicious betting on a matnvolving fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko in August 2007 sparked an investigation. More than a dozen players said publicly last year that they were approached to throw matches and the men’s ATP Tour suspended three Italian players for betting on matches.In August 2007, betting exchange Betfair nullified all $7 million in wagers on a loss by Davydenko to Martin Vassallo Arguello, who was then ranked 70 places lower. As the match in Poland progressed, more bets were placed on Davydenko to lose, even after he won the first set, Betfair said.The ATP has interviewed Davydenko, who has denied wrongdoing, and reviewed telephone records. No findings have been announced.“Integrity of competition is the essence of all sport” said ATP Executive Chairman Etienne de Villiers. “That is why we remain fully committed to meeting the global challenge posed by gambling face on”