Gambling and Tennis
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the information that is out there regarding the possible gambling problem tennis seems to have, but I simply can’t wrap my head around it. I have finally figured out why - it’s simply another form of cheating that has plagued ALL sports for generations, and will continue to do so for generations to come. From the 1919 Chicago Black Sox to Renee Richards to Barry Bonds using the cream and the clear, time has proven that people will cheat.
That isn’t to say the governing bodies of tennis shouldn’t do anything about it. In fact, they should put as much effort and resources into curtailing any match fixing that is occurring. From severe penalties to banishment from the sport, harsher punishment is always a good way to start. The fact that organizations such as the ATP are being somewhat up front about their investigations is very encouraging. The worse thing that could happen for the image of tennis, or any sport for that matter, is to sweep a scandal like this under the rug only to have it appear a decade later. I’m making a veiled reference to the steroids scandal in baseball. I realize that steroids and match fixing are different genres of cheating, but they are both cheating nonetheless. Baseball has suffered a heavy public image blow over the past couple years, when the public learned that the powers that be probably knew about steroid use in the early 90’s, and didn’t do a thing about it. Hopefully, that is not the case here.
The fundamental difference between tennis and baseball is the individuality of the sport. If I watch a Giants game I know that Barry Bonds is cheating (well apparently I don’t know, since he has never been found guilty, but I bet his hat size is 9 and 3/4), and while it definitely affects the purity of the game, he is one player of many. Now, if this match fixing scandal in tennis brings out reports that show tons of matches are being fixed, it makes it a lot harder to stomach. Recently a document was handed over to the ATP with 150 suspicious matches, that’s alot of tennis! In an individual sport it’s simply not that hard to tank a match while making it look genuine, I should know, ask anyone I played with in the juniors.
I’m starting to ramble, and have probably lost the focus of the post a bit, but hey, that’s what blogs are for. Here are the main points I wanted to make when I began - 1. Cheating happens in all sports 2. Because tennis is an individual sport it makes it easy throw a match here or there 3. While the governing tennis bodies can never fully stop match fixing, they can and should do their best to prevent it 4. As a tennis consumer, I am so far impressed with the way it is being handled thus far.
Bottom line is that while match fixing is clearly a negative for tennis, as long the right people step up and do their best to limit it as much as possible, it really shouldn’t affect the popularity of the game.
Here are some links to other articles regarding gambling:
A British Bookmaker’s thoughts.
Murray, who is having himself a nice Autumn so far, seems to like the sound of his own voice. Davydenko agrees.
Bonnie Ford’s impressions.