8 Wimbledon Matches Have Been Fixed, Security Increased to Prevent Match Fixing This Year

In November 2007, the New York Times reported on a gambling scandal which implicated several high-ranking professional tennis players. Today, allegations have arisen that eight Wimbledon matches have been fixed over the years, with four having occurred in last year's mens' tournament.

The matches were named in a dossier complied by leading bookmaking companies which monitor suspect betting patterns, and those players thought to be willing to throw a game. Suspect matches show large rises in money pledged compared with similar games.

Last September, Gilles Elseneer of Belgium came forth to reveal that he turned down a six figure offer to throw a game against Italy's Potito Starace at Wimbledon in 2005.

Tennis officials studied the dossier, which identified 140 games dating back to 2002, involving male and female players around the world. They found that the sport was not "systematically or institutionally corrupt", but did find that 45 of the 140 games merited further investigation.

In an effort to crack down on the gambling rings and attempts at throwing the games, a global tennis integrity unit and anti-corruption program will be agreed upon by organizers of the four Grand Slams, of which Wimbledon is one. Officials will also be monitoring players who take part in an excessive number of matches over and above those necessary to achieve ranking points.

Tennis officials commissioned the report after an August 2007 match where Russian Nikolay Davydenko, the world number four, lost against a rank outsider. Large sums were staked on Martin Vassallo Arguello, 74th ranked in the world. Arguello was handed the match when Davydenko retired injured.

Over the weekend, nine-time women's single winner Martina Navaratilova called for a lifetime ban for any tennis player who throws a match.

'I think the only way to really deal with it would be to make extremely severe penalties. And to me any player that would lose a match on purpose - they are done for life, lifetime ban.

'Rather than by winning a couple of matches, they are making a lot more money from losing one match. But if you take away their livelihood they will probably think twice about doing it."

So why would a tennis player want to throw a match and lose out on their chance at a title? One might consider it worthwhile if he or she expects to only reach the second or third round, where prize money is about less than $60,000, but they are offered several times that amount to lose a match in the first round.