Bernard Tomic, Former Tennis World No. 17 Investigated for Match Fixing

Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic was the subject of a match-fixing probe after suspicious betting patterns were detected around two of his matches in 2021 and 2022, The Age reports.

The former world number 17 wasn’t charged by Australian police and hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.

Nevertheless, investigators were sufficiently concerned about possible irregularities around the two matches that they set up a multiagency “strike force” to investigate. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) also ran a separate probe, seizing Tomic’s phone, according to The Age.

Sketchy Bets

The games under scrutiny included a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Russian player Roman Safiullin at the 2022 Australian Open, during which Tomic publicly claimed to have COVID-19 midway through the match. The Australian’s 6-0, 6-1 loss to Frenchman Quentin Halys in Turkey in late 2021 was also under the microscope.

Winnings from the bets ranged from $10K to $180K, although at least one bookmaker, Bet Right, refused to pay out and reported its suspicions to ITIA.

“We saw something unusual, we took it upon ourselves to contact TA directly and, to their credit, Tennis Australia returned serve at 11 p.m. … that’s pretty good,” Bet Right CEO Anthony Waller told The Age. “Tennis Australia took it very seriously, they did something about it, and it went down its normal course.”

Tennis’ Match-Fixing Problem

Tennis has been beset by match-fixing scandals over the past few years, although these have tended to occur in the lower echelons of the game, where young pros struggle to earn a decent living. Many players in the Futures circuits are unable to break even, making them vulnerable to match-fixing syndicates.

But he has failed to live up to that early promise. Since reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 17 in 2016, he’s currently languishing at number 212.