Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray have always been vocal against match-fixing, and it seems that their opinion will be asked again in the days to come.
The tennis world is shaken again by an investigation on match-fixing. As reported by the daily newspaper Die Welt and broadcaster ZDF, Belgian state prosecutor Eric Bisschop disclosed that more than 135 tennis players, including one ranked in the ATP top30, are implicated in an international betting scandal.
Unfortunately, it is well-known that match-fixing can happen in tennis especially in less important tournaments at Futures or Challengers level. It is rather easy for betting companies to spot suspicious situations as they can easily see an uncharacteristic surge of betting on matches that should not be so popular.
Trungelliti and his isolation
Marco Trungelliti dared to denounce the phenomenon to the Authority back in 2015 to then remain isolated especially in his country after 3 Argentinians were banned from tennis after a long investigation.
The position of the bgi4 on match-fixing
Back in 2016, Roger Federer was extremely vocal about the argument to comment: “I would love to hear names. Then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it. Was it the player? Was it the support team? Who was it? Was it before? Was it a doubles player, a singles player? Which slam?’”
The Swiss added: “It’s super serious and it’s super important to maintain the integrity of our sport. So how high up does it go? The higher it goes, the more surprised I would be, no doubt about it. Not about people being approached, but just people doing it in general. I just think there’s no place at all for this kind of behaviour in our sport. I have no sympathy for those people.
In 2017, Rafael Nadal maintained that the practice of match-fixing is not so widespread. However, the Spaniard didn’t refrain from lauding the effort of the Authorities. The King of Clay was great in defending his dear friend Feliciano Lopez when he was alleged to be involved in a match-fixing scandal with his partner Marc Lopez for losing their first-round match at Wimbledon Championships 2017. Both Feliciano and Marc are definitely not the kind of players that would be involved in such activities.
Novak Djokovic admitted that back in the days, he was offered a sum of $200,000 to lose a match. Of course, they knocked at the wrong door. The Serbian Legend commented: “I was not approached directly. Well, I was approached through people that were working with me at that time, which was with my team. Of course, we threw it away right away. It didn’t even get to me, the guy that was trying to talk to me, he didn’t even get to me directly. There was nothing out of it.”
Andy Murray said he was not surprised about match-fixing. In fact, he was well aware about the phenomenon for long. He also maintained that it’s important to preserve especially the young players that often struggle from a financial point of view at the beginning of their career. That could make them a good target for match-fixing.
Roger Federer’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.3, Roger played his last match on the 16th of November when he was overcome by Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in London.
This year the Swiss has a 51-10 win-loss record. Roger has won 4 titles in 2019 in Dubai, in Miami, in Halle and in Basel. Federer was the finalist in Indian Wells and in Wimbledon.
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Now the world no.1, Nadal played his last match on the 15th of November when he overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-74 6-4 7-5 in the round robin in London.
This year the Spaniard has a 52-7 win-loss record. The Spaniard clinched 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. Rafael was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played each other 42 times. The head to head is 26-16 for Nadal.
The last time that they locked horns, Roger Federer won 7-63 1-6 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in London (Wimbledon) on the 12th of July 2019.
Here the highlights.
Novak Djokovic’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, the Serbian played his last match on the 14th of November when he lost to Roger Federer 6-4 6-3 in the round robin in London.
This year Novak has a 54-11 win-loss record. Djokovic has won 5 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid, in Wimbledon, in Tokyo and in Paris. The Serbian was the finalist in Rome.
Andy Murray’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.125, Murray played his last match on the 20th of October when he beat Stan Wawrinka 3-6 6-4 6-4 in the final in Antwerp to win his 46th career title.
This year the Brit has a 12-8 win-loss record. Murray has won 1 title in Antwerp.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray played each other 36 times. The head to head is 25-11 for Djokovic.
The last time that they squared off, Roger Federer won 6-3 5-7 6-4 in the final in Doha (Qatar ExxonMobil Open) in January 2017.
