Four For Friday - Gambling
In the third round of Wimbledon, there was a match that was three sets. The two participants won and lost games and sometimes even points based on instructions from a person in the stands who did not sit in the players box. Each of the participants has been accused in the past of throwing matches when facing a much lower ranked player. The person in the stands sat at one of the baselines. They would use a quick almost baseball like sign to the player that could see. That player would then relay the signal to the other player. Because the players switched sides of the court, they each took turns communicating. Apparently the person in the stands had a team of people making in game wagers and made a fortune.
Communication from the stands to the tennis players is forbidden at Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
ReplyDeleteSure they did.
ReplyDeleteToo complicated. Don't they have college sports to engage in points shaving?
ReplyDeleteNot really though. Tennis only requires a couple players. It's much easier to buy out Raphael Nadal than it is to buy out the Philidelphia Eagles.
DeleteSeems like a good idea to me, and probably the second easiest sport to fix besides any fighting sport.
Meghan, of course.
ReplyDelete(joking...)
don't know why but Agassi jumps to mind
ReplyDeleteDid anyone watch Wimbledon and see a match that looked wonky, like it was being thrown? Otherwise I don't believe it.
ReplyDeletewow - and that gets people banned from the sport in the USA.
ReplyDeleteThis is juicy but not entirely plausible. Nevertheless, the alliterative royal has to be at the center of all of the shenanigans.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a men tennis match at Wimbledon because in women tennis the third set is the final set. I doubt the women would do this a lot money in round of 16 compared to third round. I wish enty gave a little bit more detail. I am guessing these players are lower ranked too. Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal are super rich no reason for them to cheat.
ReplyDeleteThis likely has to be one of the blinds that is partial truth dressed up in absurdity in order to avoid legal ramifications. As Count J. mentioned it is far too complicated a scheme to actually work and remain unnoticed, especially if the bets were facilitated through some sort of electronic betting platform. I don't doubt that there is some truth here, but the way it is described and the small percentage of the gambling population that would actively participate in these kind degenerate proposition bets that the titular gambler would be profiting from, it would be obvious to determine the culprit. Unless the person was making bets with someone seated right next to them in which case, too bad, so sad.
ReplyDeleteStephens/Konta
ReplyDeleteRussians and Italians have both historically benefited in past from Tennis betting schemes. That said...there were about 10 matches in 3rd round womens and mens singles that could qualify.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally - with all the obvious fu(ckery afoot in many arenas...why do people insist on continuing to believe that new stories of heinous behavior cannot be true. They have turned out to be true over and over and over.
As recently as last month...some people believed that Jeffrey Epstein was maligned and that all the accusations were a "vast right wing conspiracy" (wink wink Hill). Turns out...the right wingnuts were not so nutty...and they were right.
But I've played competitive tennis and the thing is ... I can't even begin to convey how cut-throat super-competitive it is. Even if somehow some pair decided to *work together* to throw a Wimbledon match (!) while not throwing the other under the bus just to eject them from competition forever, you bet your ass ANYONE -- any other competitor, ball boy/girl, umpire, announcer, Mom of a competitor, etc -- even suspected it was happening would do exactly that in a heartbeat.
DeleteBet both sides.
ReplyDeleteQuery/Milliman match - nobody on tennis A list, but close 3 set match. Could also be women's side....
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=third+round+wimbledon+results&oq=third+round+wimbledon+results&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l4.4775j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Woody Harrelson
ReplyDeleteNovak Djokovic has been accused of throwing matches in the past.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like Fabio Fognini v Tenys Sandgren...
ReplyDeleteMaybe 'back in the day'...
ReplyDeletePeople are getting over sports in general. It's all crooked. It's all boring. All the athletes are obnoxious narcissists. They are all overpaid. Over it.
ReplyDeleter/thathappened
ReplyDeleteEnty thought he was on reddit
ReplyDeleteTennis.
ReplyDeleteA sport I never liked playing; watching; or followed in anyway.
Years ago, I talked to Jimmy Connors on the telephone when he was trying to sell the small casino property in Henderson that he wanted to turn it into a tennis facility.
The City turned him down.
I guess I frustrated him, too much. He had his "business partner" take over the call.
Soon after the call, he lost the building to foreclosure.
One Wimbledon player was fined for not playing to their standards, ie, not trying hard enough.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to start following and supporting hockey. The players are hot AF. Patriotic. They love their sport. It seems to be the only pure sport and love of the game left.
ReplyDeleteYou're joking, correct?
DeleteVerdasco/Fabiano.
ReplyDeleteVerdasco was investigated for a supposed fixed doubles match in 2018. And Fabiano has been accused of fixing numerous Challenger matches, and trains out of the same club in Italy where a number of pros have recently been suspended for fixing matches.
Moose- now we just need to get a copy of the match and see if there is someone oddly fidgety sitting on one of the baseline ends!
ReplyDeleteI dont know how easy it would be for the players to control the play in a believable way at those speeds, but I can totally believe some gambling addicts and crooked sorts would get them to try.
That being said, I had no idea there was mid-match betting on tennis.
@Rosie.
ReplyDeleter/unexpectedr/thathappened
Maybe Megan Markle has another side hustle.
ReplyDelete@ Rosie - you make me laugh. Now, I'm not saying it's your job to be on the interwebs to be my huckleberry...but it just makes me happy to read your comments. Again.
ReplyDeleteI will only say that I thought something was off in the Simona-Serena final. Watched hundreds of matches over the years.
ReplyDeleteLies and more lies.
ReplyDeleteI did think it was weird that Serena got beat by a kid, more or less. I agree something was off about that....
ReplyDeleteSimona deserved that win she was the better player that day. Watch the first point shown in the highlights. She was on fire. My guess Federer Nadal in the semis.
ReplyDelete