Mafia man serves up warning

With organised crime syndicates believed to be behind the betting scams that have repeatedly tarnished the reputation of tennis, the ATP have employed the services of a convicted member of the American mafia to warn their leading players of the inherent dangers of allowing themselves to be lured into a web of corruption.

In the light of investigations into unusual betting patterns surrounding last week’s defeat of world No 3 Nikolay Davydenko by the 87th-ranked Argentinian Martin Vassallo Arguello in the Orange Prokom Open in Sopot, Poland, the ruling body of men’s professional tennis has intensified its desire to banish the potential for players to be coerced into throwing matches.