Tennis Integrity Unit
After more than a year, the investigation into betting and potential match fixing related to Russian tennis player Nikolay Davydenko’s match in Poland in August, 2007, ended without any charges levied against Davydenko. The recent “Environmental Review of Integrity in Professional Tennis” report by Ben Gunn and Jeff Rees regarding the issue of match fixing in professional tennis recommended among other changes that the sport of
tennis establish an integrity unit to protect the future of the sport. Jeff Rees, a former Scotland Yard detective, was recently appointed as head of this new unit. As with other major international professional sports, tennis needs to be very vigilant regarding several potential challenges to the integrity of the sport including doping, match fixing, as well as illegal coaching. There have been major scandals in several sports in the past few years, e.g. doping in cycling's Tour de France, steroids in American Major League Baseball, and the New England Patriots' video taping mess in the National Football League. Professional tennis has so far avoided a major scandal, but it is therefore critical for the sport's various governing bodies to establish and maintain rules and policies which ensure the public's confidence in the integrity of the sport. As the recent report states, the time to act is now before a major scandal has tarnished professional tennis.
|
