Tennis is confronted with accusations of match fixing for years: from the infamous match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello in 2007 that first introduced much of this public to questions about the integrity of matches in some smaller tournaments to suspensions levied against two players earlier this year, there always generally seems to be something lurking underneath the sport’s surface.

Those concerns were aired once more this in a story by The Daily Beast, which once again attempted to delve through the information out there about tennis and figure out just how much of a problem match fixing is for the sport week.

One 2014 research cited in that story estimated that one percent of most first-round tournament matches might be fixed, which may mean more than 20 matches a year were influenced by gamblers; other estimates and guesses have suggested that multiple matches per week could be fixed, though that’s nevertheless a very small percentage of all expert tennis matches.

Low Pay Leads to Temptation for Lower-Ranked Players

Why is tennis therefore vulnerable to match fixing?

There are certainly a combination of factors, a lot of which help explain why the issue seems most prominent during the lower levels associated with the expert ranks.

First, there’s well-known fact that tennis (at least in singles play) is a sport that is individual.

There clearly was only anyone that needs to be bribed to get them to throw a match (the exact same issue leading many to fear widespread integrity issues in boxing and other combat sports), and there are no teammates or substitutes to pick the slack up for the player whom is struggling.

Having said that, nobody is accusing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal of fixing matches at Wimbledon.

For just one, there’s the actual fact why these matches have a powerful quantity of scrutiny on them; perhaps even more importantly, though, star tennis players are acutely well compensated, meaning it would cost anybody attempting to fix a match at that level an exorbitant level of cash, if it may be done at all.

That is not to say that nobody tries. Even Novak Djokovic has told a tale of being provided $100,000 to repair a match back 2006.

But players on the Challenger Tour or other low-ranked competitors aren’t making nearly that much money, and might even lose money in a provided tournament after travel and mentoring expenses are taken under consideration.

That produces them targets that are prime gamblers seeking to fix a match.

Spot Betting Allows Fixing Without Impacting Match Result

Another problem is the very fact that gamblers don’t also have to correct a match that is entire find techniques to benefit.

Because numerous gambling web sites and bookmakers provide betting on sets or games that are even individual players can achieve agreements allowing certain occasions to happen during the right times to satisfy gamblers while still playing to win overall.

‘One particular typical fix would be to separate the first two sets up to a predetermined script, then have fun with the third set fairly to determine which player progresses,’ activities modeler Ian Dorward told Slate earlier this year.

The Tennis Integrity Unit may be the physical body tasked with rooting out such problems, and they have sometimes made examples of players. Each received six-month suspensions and fines for violations of anti-corruption rules, though not for match-fixing in March, Elie Rousset and Walkter Trusendi.

But no matter what the Integrity Unit does, it’s unlikely in order to change the tradition that enables lower-ranked players to be incentivized to aid gamblers who wish to make sure bets.

That would need a change that is complete how compensation works up and down the various levels of professional tennis, something that will most likely not take place any time soon.