During the last US Open Championships the saga of match-fixing in tennis has been enriched with two new protagonists, and they are again low-ranked players: the Polish Piotr Gadomski, ranked ATP 1064 and his fellow compatriot Arkadiusz Kocyla, number 764 ATP.
The charge against them is to have sold some doubles matches in exchange for money in an ITF tournament held in Bytom, Poland, six years ago. Gadmoski professes his innocence, stating that he did not accept the money and claiming that his only fault lies in not having informed the competent authorities, ITF (International Tennis Federation) and TIU (Tennis Integrity Unity), of the fixing proposal. TIU, however, has already promulgated the fine, and the two players were therefore considered guilty.
The news brings about two questions. First, whether it is appropriate to be able to bet on ITF matches, where the prize money is often poor, and therefore the thought of selling games becomes economically attractive to players that with their earnings can hardly manage to pay for training and travel. The second issue regards the importance of the phenomenon. How realistic is it that until now only low-ranked players have been found guilty and only in semi-professional tournaments?
The first question would have an easy solution: stopping the bets on tournaments with a low prize money. The latter leads to speculations that are probably not appropriate to make, at least not until it will be ascertained that the phenomenon is present also on important stages.
