Tennis Match-Fixing Investigation will take at least 1 Year
The investigation into match-fixing and corruption in Tennis will take at least one year to complete, four governing bodies of the sport announced Friday.
The case, which is headed by an independent review panel, "will investigate thoroughly the allegations of corruption in international professional tennis and the effectiveness of existing anti-corruption practices and procedures," according to the ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam Board, ESPN.com reported.
The three-person panel, with lead investigator Adam Lewis, will be given "wide power" that allows them to ask for documents, seek out the help of experts and conduct interviews, the International Tennis Federation said. The other two members of the panel will be announced in a few weeks.
The panel will also be analyzing how the effectiveness of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program, the Tennis Integrity Unit and Tennis Integrity Protection Program. The panel will make recommendations for changes if necessary.
Reports of match fixing, in which players reportedly accepted bribes to throw a match or a set, surfaced last month right before the Australian Open. A joint BBC and Buzzfeed article claimed that Tennis officials chose not to pursue evidence of corruption against suspected groups and players.
The report stated that 16 of the players allegedly involved were ranked in the top 50 over the past 10 years. Players were not named in the report. Former world number one, Roger Federer from Switzerland, had asked officials to provide the names of the players.
He said, "I would love to hear name. 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? 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."
The ITF said that an interim report on the investigation is expected to be released within 12 months.
