Wimbledon on alert due to possible match-fixing scandal

News has emerged that three matches at the recently concluded Wimbledon tournament have aroused suspicions of match-fixing.

Roger Federer emerged victorious at this year's men's singles event with his dominant win over Marin Cilic while Garbine Muguruza won her first ever title at SW19 with her win over Venus Williams in what was regarded as a successful event overall.

However, three matches — two in qualifying and one in the main draw — have triggered alerts of potential match-fixing according to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) while an additional match during the French Open has also been a subject matter.

These alerts are usually raised following unusual betting patterns involving the players. While not conclusive, other factors are also considered such as playing conditions and injuries.

"During the second quarter of 2017, 53 match alerts were received," the TIU said, as quoted on The Times. "Consistent with previous reports, the majority of alerts [40 out of 53] were received for matches played on the lower level men's ATP Challenger and ITF Futures circuits.

"Roland Garros and Wimbledon . . . accounted for the four grand-slam alerts. These will be assessed and reviewed in keeping with the TIU match alert policy.

"Every alert is assessed and followed up as an indicator that something inappropriate may have happened, though an alert on its own is not evidence of match-fixing."

The four matches will be assessed and reviewed by the TIU as part of it's latest quarterly review but no players have been identified at this point.

It is not the first time that match-fixing has been the talk of a Grand Slam as an investigation from the BBC and Buzzfeed News last year claimed that there was widespread match-fixing at Wimbledon organised by Russian and Italian gambling syndicates.