Novak Djokovic got the ball rolling in a debate that is set to rock tennis, with the specter of the game now a huge topic of discussion in the game.
Betting on tennis matches outside the top levels of the game has been a major point of contention in the game, with enormous risks of corruption when players win modest sums from participating in tournaments.
In this context, the steady stream of suspensions of players found guilty of match-fixing confirms that the game has huge problems with players struggling to finance their own careers and being tempted by the office to fix the matches of those who bet on their matches.
Tennis great Djokovic sparked debate around the topic when he made controversial comments last month suggesting tennis authorities needed to get a handle on the problem of gambling at its core.
“Due to the integrity of the sport, we as players are not allowed to put betting company patches on our clothing while playing on the field and we do not get a fair share,” Djokovic said.
“When I talk about fair sharing, I mean at least 50/50 with tournaments which are allowed to have the main sponsors from the betting world.
“So it’s as simple as that and to me it’s completely unacceptable. Personally, I probably wouldn’t have a betting sponsor on my sleeve, but I know that probably 95 percent of players would.
“I would support that, but if it is not allowed, then what we would deserve is 50 percent of the share that the tournament receives from these sponsorship deals with the betting houses.
“Billions and billions of dollars flow every week from tennis tournaments at different levels.
“The players are, I think, in a very disadvantaged position in relation to this situation. This is something I feel like we need to talk about more.
“We need to make players aware of this problem; In this particular area, the players are not benefiting at all and giving away too much of their own value, and the rest of the tennis ecosystem is obviously benefiting and we simply cannot allow this to happen anymore.
“This is a very important value and part of the money that players can get their hands on.”
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The idea that a player could benefit from money generated from tennis betting seems implausible, with gambling authorities deeply entrenched in the gambling industry.
Lower-tier tournament streams are sold to betting companies to generate revenue, with the threat of corruption always close to the surface.
The idea that tennis is a corruption-free sport will not be tenable if suspicions about match-fixing continue to arise at the current rate, with Djokovic calling on the game’s authorities to take charge of the problem.
“This is where I think the focus should be because having been a member of the ATP Players Council for almost a decade, whenever we bring up this topic, what normally comes up in the discussion is l “integrity,” Djokovic added.
“It feels like we have to fight to make sure the sport stays clean. We have to make sure that players are not cheating, that they are not betting, that they are not compromised”, which I support and agree with of course, but there is a kind of gambling psychological in which you focus on this and you don’t. I’m not really talking about the main problem here, which we as players need to be aware of.
When you win less than $1,000 in a match outside of the ATP Tour or even the lower-tier ATP Challenger Tour, the prospect of earning ten times that amount for fixing a match is too tempting.
If players at the lower tier of the game won more prize money, they would not be tempted by match-fixing offers.
Yet a lack of money at the bottom means the sport is exposed to the threat of corruption on a daily basis.
