Australian police has arrested and charged former player Isaac Frost in connection to an ongoing investigation into match fixing.
Frost is suspected to be the individual who approached former Australian Open boys champion Oliver Anderson to throw his match. The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to deliberately dropping a set at a Challenger match in Traralgon in 2016. Earlier this year Anderson avoided a custodial sentence after arguing that he only agreed to participate due to the pressure of trying to fulfil his sponsorship obligations according to his lawyer. He was instead slammed with a two-year good behaviour bond and fined AUS$500.
Former top-500 player Frost appeared at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday accused of facilitating the fix of a match. According to Australian law, he could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. In the wake of the Anderson case, a number of ‘tennis officials’ has since been questioned according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The names of those have not been disclosed to the public.
It has also been revealed that Frost supplied illegal drugs to others, including Anderson. Court files state that he dealt Anderson an unconfirmed amount of cannabis before he approached him to fix his match in 2016. Another recipient of illegal drugs from Frost was tennis coach Dean Santillan. Santillan’s son Akira is currently a top-200 player, but have not been specifically named in the files.
Besides match fixing, Frost is also charged with nine counts of supplying a dangerous drug and one offence of possessing a dangerous drug. Besides cannabis, he is also charged with dealing cocaine, oxycodone and other prescription medications.
The 27-year-old achieved a ranking high of 458th in 2012 and his only title occurred at an Australian Futures tournament in 2011. He last played a competitive match in October’s at a F8 Futures event in his home country.
He has a has been granted bail by the court despite police protest.
How did Anderson get caught?
Authorities were alerted about Anderson’s match in Traralgon by betting website Crownbets. The company noticed suspicious betting patterns occurring during the match and reported it to the police. One bettor tried to place AUS$10,000 on the match, but was rejected. They however allowed a wager of $2000 to be placed. Anderson won the match in three sets against a player ranked 900 places lower than him, giving the bettor winnings of $10,000.
Anderson is currently suspended from competition until the Tennis Integrity Unit conduct their own investigation.
