Another suspicious tennis scheme.
Last week, in the third round of the ITF tournament qualification in the Australian city of Toowoomba, American Alexander Stevenson starred in the third set. More precisely, not just in the third set, but with a score of 4: 5 for the match point opponent.
Stevenson is removed from the matches a lot - in Toowoomba was about the 70th time. Very often she does it for one or two games before the defeat. In 2007, she had a segment, when she withdrew from three of four matches held, one time for the game before the defeat, and another - for two. There is an opinion that she's just a bad character, she does not like to lose and does not want to please her opponents with a clean victory.
But there is another explanation.
Bidding on yourself
It is possible that Stevenson makes bets - of course, through intermediaries. And when it becomes clear to her that she will not be able to win, she is removed from the match. As a result, bets are reset to zero, she gets her money back.
Of course, in order for such a scheme to work, you need to choose the right office. Bookmakers have three options for reaction to the withdrawal of one of the players. 1. In order to result the match counted, one ball is played. 2. To do this, one set is enough. 3. The match must be finished until the end - in all other cases, bets are canceled, money is returned.
Most large offices work just in the third scenario. Accordingly, when Stevenson without apparent damage to the match point opponent rests quite calmly removed, this raises suspicion.
Stevenson is not the only suspicious player. In small tournaments such cases are quite common. For example, in early September at the ITF tournament in Prague, Belgian Magali Kempen starred at the match point of her rival - the Frenchwoman Alice Remi. After that, she wrote in facebook that she had problems with her hand. A few days ago on the men's "Futures" in Spain, the Belgian Axel Frank starred from the match at the opponent's triple match point. Under strange circumstances Teimuraz Gabashvili was shot from the final of "Challenger" in 2013.
Forbidden Games
Of course, players can not bet - even on their own victory. Tennis Integrity Unit regularly disqualifies for this. For example, in 2016, the Frenchman Constant Lestienne was disqualified for bets. The investigation showed that from February 2012 to June 2015 he put on 220 matches, but he did not take part in any of these matches. But in 2008, the ATP disqualified the Italian Federico Luzzi - he bet on 836 matches, including one's own.
In 2009, Carolyn Wozniacki came under investigation in a case involving stakes and withdrawals from the match. In Luxembourg, she refused to continue meeting with Anne Kremer at a score of 7: 5, 5: 0 in his favor. In that the Dane was traumatized, no one doubted it. The problem was that during the second set with a score of 3: 0, her father went out on the court and told her to withdraw when the score was 5: 0 or 4: 1. It was motivated by the fact that she will not be able to play the next match, and will hold several more games and make the audience happy. Since by WTA rules all coaches are required to go to the court with a microphone, the audience heard about the plan, and Kremer began to bet on a high ratio. But no sanctions were imposed on Wozniacki as a result.
Suspicions against Nikolay Davydenko in 2007 also appeared after he won the first set, and then withdrew from the match against Martin Vassalho-Arguello. Perhaps now, tennis authorities should begin to look closely not only at the unusual dynamics of rates, but also to strange denials on matchpoints.
Nice to meet you, @makcon0889!
@cleverbot can you say @OriginalWorks?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit