2016 Australian Open tennis - First leg of Djokovic's Golden Slam

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > 2016 Australian Open tennis - First leg of Djokovic's Golden Slam

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Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009

http://www.ausopen.com/index.html

The first slam of the year begins on Monday, January 18 and ends on Sunday, January 1. Subtract 16 hours for U.S. Eastern Time.

TV coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET every day on ESPN2 with additional coverage on http://www.watchespn.com. The AO website and app also offer radio streams which are very good.

Draws

Top 8 Men's Betting Favorites (Ladbrokes)
N Djokovic 4/6
A Murray 6/1
R Federer 9/1
R Nadal 12/1
S Wawrinka 12/1
K Nishikori 33/1
M Raonic 33/1
N Kyrgios 40/1

Top 8 Women's Betting Favorites (Ladbrokes)
S Williams 7/2
V Azarenka 7/2
S Halep 9/1
M Sharapova 9/1
G Muguruza 10/1
P Kvitova 14/1
B Bencic 14/1
A Radwanska 20/1

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jan 27, 2016

# ? Jan 15, 2016 01:34

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 19:28

Up Circle: Apr 3, 2008

if Djokovic wins another one I'm going on hunger strike.

# ? Jan 17, 2016 00:13

ChaosReaper: Feb 19, 2005; When a man lies he murders some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives. All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home?

I'm looking forward to this even though Djokovic is almost guaranteed the title. The Australian usually has some of my favorite matches even if the finals are generally garbage.

# ? Jan 17, 2016 22:03

drunkill: Sep 25, 2007; me @ ur posting; Fallen Rib

36 degrees today, 37 tomorrow. That'll be fun for those not expecting it.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/melbourne.shtml

# ? Jan 17, 2016 22:40

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35319202

quote:

Tennis match fixing: Evidence of suspected match fixing revealed

Secret files exposing evidence of widespread suspected match fixing at the top level of world tennis, including at Wimbledon, can be revealed by the BBC and BuzzFeed News.

Over the last decade 16 players who have ranked in the top 50 have been repeatedly flagged to the tennis integrity unit over suspicions they have thrown matches.

All of the players, including winners of Grand Slam titles, were allowed to continue competing.

The Tennis Integrity Unit - set up to police the sport - said it had a zero-tolerance approach to betting-related corruption.

The cache of documents passed to the BBC and Buzzfeed News include the findings of an investigation set up in 2007 by the organising body, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Hear the whole story on File on 4, Tuesday 20:00 GMT, BBC Radio 4

Its job was to look into suspicious betting activity after a game involving Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello. The two players were cleared of violating any rules but the investigation developed into a much wider enquiry looking into a web of gamblers linked to top-level players.

The documents we have obtained show the enquiry found betting syndicates in Russia, northern Italy and Sicily making hundreds of thousands of pounds betting on games investigators thought to be fixed. Three of these games were at Wimbledon.

In a confidential report for the tennis authorities in 2008, the enquiry team said 28 players involved in these games should be investigated but the findings were never followed up. Tennis introduced a new anti-corruption code in 2009 but after taking legal advice were told previous corruption offences could not be pursued.

"As a result no new investigations into any of the players who were mentioned in the 2008 report were opened," a TIU spokesman said.

In subsequent years there were repeated alerts sent to the TIU about a third of these players. None of them was disciplined by the TIU.

A group of whistle blowers inside tennis, who wanted to remain anonymous, recently passed the documents on to the BBC and Buzzfeed News. We contacted Mark Phillips, one of the betting investigators in the 2007 enquiry, who told the BBC they discovered there was repeated suspicious betting activity about a clear group.

"There was a core of about 10 players who we believed were the most common perpetrators that were at the root of the problem."

He has never spoken publicly before about the material he gathered, which he said was as powerful as any he had seen in over 20 years as a betting investigator.

"The evidence was really strong. There appeared to be a really good chance to nip it in the bud and get a strong deterrent out there to root out the main bad apples."

The BBC and Buzzfeed were also passed on the names of other current players the TIU have repeatedly been warned about by betting organisations, sports integrity units and professional gamblers.

Many of these players have been on the radar of the tennis authorities for involvement in suspicious matches going back to 2003.

The BBC and Buzzfeed News have decided not to name the players because without access to their phone, bank and computer records it is not possible to determine whether they may have been personally taking part in match fixing.

However tennis's integrity unit does have the power to demand all this evidence from any professional tennis player.

"There is an element of actually keeping things under wraps," said Benn Gunn, a former police chief constable who conducted a major review of betting in tennis that led to the creation of the Tennis Integrity Unit.

It's the first time he has publicly spoken about his concerns.

"If they were really serious about dealing with this then they really need to create an integrity unit with teeth," he said.

The European Sports Security Association, which monitors betting for leading bookmakers, flagged up more than 50 suspicious matches to the TIU in 2015.

The organisation declared that tennis attracts more suspicious gambling activity than other sport.

Nigel Willerton, director of the TIU, said while it welcomed the support of the betting industry, "it is not the role of betting companies to make judgements about corrupt activity".

He added: "All credible information received by the TIU is analysed, assessed, and investigated by highly experienced former law-enforcement investigators."

The problem of suspicious betting and match fixing is not going away. Eight of the players repeatedly flagged to the TIU over the past decade are due to play in the Australian Open which starts on Monday 18 January.

Well this might put a damper on things.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 01:02

Sodium Chloride: Jan 1, 2008

I bet on tennis regularly and it's obvious there are crooked matches. It's not new news.

The TIU are just as blind as the tennis drug testers. They do not give a poo poo.

They do need the wholesale cooperation of the betting companies. Dodgy markets get shut down fast. Bookies know crooked matches. And/or they need to let bettors report suspicions matches.

I find the further you go down the dodgier the matches (same as all sports). While the BBC didn't give any examples, there was a Challenger match last year I watched that was totally fixed - Aleksandr Nedovyesov v Andrey Golubev. You can tell because the odds at the exchange did not match what was happening on court at all.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 01:37

fancyclown: Dec 10, 2012

Good first round match coming up. Cibulkova vs Mladenovic. I think Kiki can make this interesting, even win it. Domi is still not where she was before her achilles injury. Rough start in 2016 for Kiki losing to fellow countrywomen but I hope this one will be tight.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 03:44

Sodium Chloride: Jan 1, 2008

Remember when people where trying to hype up Sloane Stephens? She just lost to a qualifier. Awful performance from her.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 04:52

Up Circle: Apr 3, 2008

american tennis players suck, much like american people and culture.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 09:19

serious gaylord: Sep 16, 2007; what.

Lid posted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35319202

Well this might put a damper on things.

The list of players has been published by a Swedish newspaper.

https://twitter.com/D_T_Tennis/status/689092213154942979

# ? Jan 18, 2016 20:01

Up Circle: Apr 3, 2008

serious gaylord posted:

The list of players has been published by a Swedish newspaper.

https://twitter.com/D_T_Tennis/status/689092213154942979

whats the second list of names? whats a varningslistan

Edit: what a list though. I was just telling a friend how badly I wanted some top 10 players to get implicated in this, and it happened!

Up Circle fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Jan 18, 2016

# ? Jan 18, 2016 22:12

Resonance: Dec 17, 2002; Don't give me any shit about plumbers, Jan.

Up Circle posted:

whats the second list of names? whats a varningslistan

Translate suggests 'black list' for the top section and 'alert list' for the additionals.

I wonder how many are suspected of throwing sets and how many are suspected of throwing entire matches.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 22:18

serious gaylord: Sep 16, 2007; what.

Top list are apparently 'very suspect' as in multiple matches with dodgy betting patterns.

Azarenka is going to have a microscope on her this tournament.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 23:13

Up Circle: Apr 3, 2008

Unfortunately I think this tournament will likely be clean as a whistle, but just the scrutiny would be good for the sport. I'm hoping this controversy can snowball into something bigger.

# ? Jan 18, 2016 23:27

fancyclown: Dec 10, 2012

serious gaylord posted:

Azarenka is going to have a microscope on her this tournament.

That list is 5 years old though.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 00:34

Sodium Chloride: Jan 1, 2008

Remember that the list is just names of suspects. Don't automatically go and tar and feather them.

I wonder how they made that list when they aren't interested in the bookies help? The TIU are too incompetent to have any real data. Last year Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace had bans lifted for match fixing because there was no evidence at all.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 00:45

fancyclown: Dec 10, 2012

It wouldn't make much sense to fix matches in the slams either. It's in the smaller tournaments these things happen.

A player outside the top 100 is more likely to accept $ for fixing. Lose on purpose and you have money to travel for another 6 months or so.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 01:00

Up Circle: Apr 3, 2008

even guys in the top 50 can struggle to make money.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 01:28

ChaosReaper: Feb 19, 2005; When a man lies he murders some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives. All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home?

Haven't seen Verdasco play in forever. Good to know he's still a gigantic choke machine.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 08:13

Hortism: Oct 25, 2010

I don't recall hearing much about Nadal in recent times, but holy poo poo he's fallen off fast.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 08:58

Geno: Apr 26, 2004; STUPID
DICK

ChaosReaper posted:

Haven't seen Verdasco play in forever. Good to know he's still a gigantic choke machine.

lol

# ? Jan 19, 2016 09:04

Solemn Sloth: Jul 11, 2015; Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.

ChaosReaper posted:

Haven't seen Verdasco play in forever. Good to know he's still a gigantic choke machine.

A good post

# ? Jan 19, 2016 09:09

ChaosReaper: Feb 19, 2005; When a man lies he murders some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives. All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home?

I would edit that but gently caress it he proved me wrong so I'll take that stupid post. I thought he was gonna go away in the fourth when I posted that and again in the fifth when he got broken early. Glad he turned it around. Is this gonna be Nadal's life from now on? Just seems like he 's getting run off the court all the time lately which is awesome to watch.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 09:17

fancyclown: Dec 10, 2012

RIP Halep. More seeded players out in first round than last year yet?

# ? Jan 19, 2016 10:28

Sodium Chloride: Jan 1, 2008

Most of the top women were injured a couple of weeks ago so expect more upsets.

Only saw the start of the Rafa match but if he is losing to his former doormat than maybe it's time to call it quits.

# ? Jan 19, 2016 16:27

fancyclown: Dec 10, 2012

Kvitova is all fired up early. Might be slightly annoyed by how vocal Gavrilova is?

EDIT: Dasha is fun. UE galore from Petra to end the set. Has to come from behind now. Pe3ra Kvitova.

2: Petra obviously rusty but did not think this could end in two sets. Looks like it now.

fancyclown fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Jan 20, 2016

# ? Jan 20, 2016 11:36

MacDougall: Apr 21, 2008; Definitely Australian

This Gavrilova is going to endear herself to Australia with this Russian behaviour.

# ? Jan 20, 2016 12:19

Schlesische: Jul 4, 2012

MacDougall posted:

This Gavrilova is going to endear herself to Australia with this Russian behaviour.

We seem to prefer people of Eastern European descent who come with massive parental issues.

# ? Jan 20, 2016 12:26

MacDougall: Apr 21, 2008; Definitely Australian

Another women's seed down. Gavrilova looks promising!

# ? Jan 20, 2016 12:47

Jack's Flow: Jun 6, 2003; Life, friends, is boring

Stop doing this to me, Mrs. Kvitov�. Please.

# ? Jan 20, 2016 19:51

spamman: Jul 11, 2002; Chin up Tiger, There is always next season...

Going to Rod Laver tomorrow for the day session. I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't schedule Serena or Novak, but can't complain too much about getting Federer and Maria.

# ? Jan 21, 2016 13:15

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

serious gaylord posted:

The list of players has been published by a Swedish newspaper.

https://twitter.com/D_T_Tennis/status/689092213154942979

Strangely an entirely different list has been released

http://showlegend.tumblr.com/post/137644525409/the-buzzfeed-15-exposed

Igor Andreev (RUS), Lukas Lacko (SVK), Ivan Dodig (CRO), Andrey Golubev (KAZ), Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG), Lleyton Hewitt (AUS), Jan Hajek (CZE), Albert Montanes (ESP), Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP), Janko Tipsarevic (SRB), Alex Bogomolov Jr (RUS), Matthew Ebden (AUS), Denis Istomin (UZB), Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) and Michael Russell (USA).

# ? Jan 22, 2016 04:58

Solemn Sloth: Jul 11, 2015; Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.

Hewitt timed his retirement well

# ? Jan 22, 2016 05:51

spamman: Jul 11, 2002; Chin up Tiger, There is always next season...

Bit of a shame Dimitrov hurt himself there. He was putting up a good fight.

# ? Jan 22, 2016 08:49

MacDougall: Apr 21, 2008; Definitely Australian

Kyrgios needs to take it to Berdych more often. He has the game to rattle Berdych but if he just gets balls back in Tomas will take the game away. He needs to hit winners.

Edit: Just like he's doing in this game. Some great shots.

MacDougall fucked around with this message at 11:14 on Jan 22, 2016

# ? Jan 22, 2016 11:11

fancyclown: Dec 10, 2012

This match between Kiki and Dasha is the best I've seen so far in the tournament. 8-8 in the 3d

# ? Jan 22, 2016 11:58

MacDougall: Apr 21, 2008; Definitely Australian

fancyclown posted:

This match between Kiki and Dasha is the best I've seen so far in the tournament. 8-8 in the 3d

loving nuts. Women's tennis whoda thunk it.

# ? Jan 22, 2016 12:05

MacDougall: Apr 21, 2008; Definitely Australian

Gavrilova has so many loving intangibles. If she was 5ft 10 she'd be world number 1 for a decade. Outstanding match.

# ? Jan 22, 2016 12:13

put both hands in: Nov 28, 2007; FYFE

"I'm good from behind", Gavrilova

# ? Jan 22, 2016 12:19

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 19:28

MacDougall: Apr 21, 2008; Definitely Australian

Some of the shots Kyrgios is playing right now are out of this world good. He better live up to his talent or it'll be an all time tragedy.

# ? Jan 22, 2016 12:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > 2016 Australian Open tennis - First leg of Djokovic's Golden Slam

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