‘Brave’ punters dish tennis
Wimbledon champs … Clement (l), Llodra have spoken of apporaches. Pic: AFP ‘Brave’ punters dish tennis 
By Josh Massoud
Former Australian Captain October 31, 2007
STEVE Fletcher and Sean Bartholomew are two of Australia’s boldest punters, barely raising a nervous sweat while staking ordinary lifetime wages on the bounce of the ball every year.
Yet for Fletcher and Bartholomew, tennis has become too hot to handle as the stench of match-fixing continues to cloud the sport’s once-noble shine.
What shapes as a scandal of global proportions has forced Tennis Australia to consider banning laptops and tightening player access at tournaments, but Fletcher and Bartholomew have both already decided to place their six-figure bets elsewhere this summer.
Amid fresh claims yesterday from French ace Arnaud Clement of an offer to “tank”, the high-rolling duo maintain tennis swapped its racquets for rackets years ago.
“Out of all the sports it’s up there with the easiest to fix because it’s only one person and not a whole team,” said Fletcher, who pulled off Australia’s most notorious greyhound sting with controversial Sydney punter Eddie Hayson two years ago.
“If you are going to try and fix a sport I couldn’t think of a better one.”
Fletcher has only placed “one or two” tennis bets in the past six months.
It’s a far cry from how often free-wheeling counterpart Bartholomew used to gamble weekly on tournaments.
“We really pulled it back about two years ago when the rorts became too much,” Bartholomew, one of the nation’s keenest form students, said.
“There was a spate of strange results in the early rounds, where we were getting them wrong while everyone else was getting them right.
“These days we wouldn’t touch individual matches or tournaments outside the majors.”
But while the pros quickly wisened up, the “man on the street” punters are embracing tennis with a never-before-seen appetite.
Valued at $120million, tennis moved to TAB Sportsbet’s fourth-most popular medium behind rugby league, AFL and soccer last financial year.
Spokesman Glenn Munsie said that takings had doubled since TAB changed its rules to cancel payouts on unfinished matches because of suspicions in 2004.
“Tanking has been going on for a couple of decades, but tanking in relation to betting is a new side of it for tennis,” Munsie said.
“Some matches have looked suspicious going back five years.”
After bowing out of the 2007 Paris Masters, Clement yesterday revealed he had been asked to throw a match without elaborating when, where and how the offer was made.
“There was not a fraction of hesitation (to refuse),” the World No.53 said.
“That’s why I don’t want to say too much about it.”
Tennis Australia is awaiting the outcome of the ATP’s review of 140 suspicious matches before announcing what measures it will take to eliminate the spectre of match-fixing.
The Daily Telegraph understands patrons may be stopped from bringing laptops to tournaments to stop on-site betting, while player areas will be more heavily monitored than ever.
But while Paris Masters organisers have engaged a panel of ex-players to review video recordings of every match, it is highly unlikely such draconian measures will be adopted at any of this season’s events in Australia.
“At the moment we are waiting to see the results of the ATP’s investigation before we decide anything,” a Tennis Australia spokesman said.
