The world of tennis was rocked yesterday as it was confirmed that world no. 100 Nicolas Kicker was given a six year ban and fined $25,000 for match-fixing. He was found guilty in May by the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program after an investigation into match-fixing at a tournament in Italy in 2015 and another in Colombia. He was guilty of fixing two ATP Challenger matches.
Kicker is an Argentinian tennis professional that had reached a career-high ranking of 78th last year. Concerns about match-fixing in tennis has been in the game for some time. A two-year review uncovered that from 3,200 tennis pros, 464 stated that they had first-hand knowledge of match-fixing. It usually involves the lower and middle level tennis pros that are struggling to make money through their tennis winnings.
Nicolas Kicker banned for six years and fined for match-fixing https://t.co/BGpl70AMgk pic.twitter.com/x8Ir0K5xbm
— echt (@echtes) June 19, 2018
Lower level pros struggling to make ends meet
The review also showed that the decision to start selling live scoring data in 2012 has had a significant part to play, as this has made it easier to bet on lower level matches. The review conducted by Adam Lewis QC identified that only the top 250 female and 350 males made enough money to break even before coaching costs. Players are then tempted to throw games and arrange for betting to back that result in order to make money.
What can authorities do to prevent match-fixing?
This latest revelation will no doubt bring match-fixing closer to the attention of the tennis authorities but with the figures quoted, it looks like a bigger problem than they have the funding to resolve. The next step may be to stop the selling of live scoring data and bringing in more staff to investigate the issue.
