Match fixing and sports book turns strawberries into raspberries

Fifth ranked tennis player, Nikolay Davydenko is once again in the limelight not for his performance on the tennis courts as much as for purported fixes and match-throwing. About a year ago, Davydenko who was hotly favoured in the sports book, had an early-round loss to an unseeded player.

Online sports book businesses reported their suspicions to the Association of Tennis Professionals in light of the fact that some $7 million had been bet against Davydenko.

The sports book scandal is threatening to overshadow Davydenko’s tennis career. The ATP has taken steps to investigate the connection between Davydenko and sports book and have also instituted stiff measures against sports betting. This was against the backdrop of a first round loss at Wimbledon to Benjamin Becker.

Davydenko recently lost in the fourth round to Gilles Muller who is ranked as 130th best player in the world. The defeated Davydenko said that he was mentally and physically drained by the constant rumours surrounding him and sports book gambling. Despite the fact that the investigation which has been going on for more than a year is said to be near completed and has as yet been unable to prove Davydenko’s complicity with sports book operators, it seems that he will be dogged by the rumours for the rest of his career.

For its part, the ATP are determined to stamp out irregularities like these and maintain the pristing image of tennis.