Crime experts descend on Aus Open to monitor ‘persons of interest’

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

European crime-fighting experts have reportedly been deployed at the Australian Open as several “persons of interest” are being monitored following a number of match-fixing and doping cases in tennis last year. International agents investigating corruption in tennis have also been given increased powers to seize mobile phones of any players or officials suspected of criminal activities as investigations continue in Melbourne.

A team of crime-fighting experts from Europe are present at this year’s Australian Open as part of the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s bid to strengthen surveillance operations taking place on-site, according to the Australian Telegraph. Agents are said to be observing “persons of interest” at Melbourne Park though the identities of any specific targets are being kept under wraps.

It comes as an increased number of players are finding themselves banned and suspended from the sport for match fixing, with four expelled for life in 2022 while 26 different players, coaches and umpires were suspended for a combined total of 183 years. And authorities in the sport have been left on high alert over criminal elements infiltrating tennis as a result, with a 2021 Europol report on organised crime groups in sports corruption identified tennis as one of the main sports that criminals were targeting.

The ITIA’s investigators have also been given increased powers to seize the phones of any players or officials they believe could be involved in criminal activities. It comes in a shift away from their main role, which is to oversee blood and urine anti-doping testing, with 18 players being caught taking banned substances last year.

JUST IN: Boris Becker defends Novak Djokovic behaviour at Australian Open

“We would never shy away from saying there is a match fixing issue in tennis,” ITIA communications boss Adrian Bassett told the Telegraph. “This is why we exist. So if we want to talk to a player, they have to talk to us. And if we ask for their phone, they have to give us their phone.”

While there are several “persons of interest” believed to be at this year’s Australian Open, officials do not believe any of the matches at the first Major of the year will be fixed, with the offence often taking place at lower-level tournaments involving players struggling to stay afloat financially – proving the perfect targets for criminals looking to get involved.

“There are players who have been involved in match fixing who will come to the grand slams,” Bassett continued. “Of course, the players who are of interest who come to Grand Slams, that’s half the reason our investigators are here. But we don’t see evidence of mass match fixing at Grand Slams because this is when everyone is watching and the bookmakers are keeping a close eye on it as well.”

DON’T MISS
Boulter could be boyfriend’s trump card in prime time Djokovic clash
John McEnroe offers after solution after Nadal and Djokovic complaints
Emma Raducanu can learn from Jelena Ostapenko as Latvian upsets Gauff

While Grand Slam organisers have long been aware of the threat that criminals and illegal activity pose to the sport, the true extent of this activity is only just coming to light with the ITIA sharing their classified intelligence with international law enforcement agencies, prompting a beefed-up approach to crime-fighting at the Majors.

It comes as tennis was found to have the most suspicious alerts in the third quarter of 2022 according to figures from the International Betting Integrity Association – the global watchdog for the licensed betting industry. The organisation was notified about 76 suspicious alerts from different sports around the world and  33 were related directly to tennis – more than twice as many as any other sport.

While none of them originated from Australia, there have been previous warnings of criminal activity in the country which includes a match from the start of 2022 that had been flagged as a “suspicious alert”. And Sport Integrity Australia have gotten involved at the Australian Open for the first time in 2023, working alongside the ITIA to run the event’s anti-doping programme and help in their efforts to crack down on match-fixing after cases in other countries showed that criminals will stop at nothing to entrap those involved in sport, using methods including blackmailing them with money loans, recreational drugs and honeytrap prostitutes.

Source: Read Full Article