When Will it Stop?

Scandals in professional sports are becoming as common as the cold it seems. Recently, professional tennis has been abuzz with a possible scandal brewing. Number 5 in the world, Nicolay Davydenko has been under the microscope since a suspicious betting incident on August 2nd. Davydenko, seeded 4th in the tournament, played the 73rd ranked player in the world, Martin Vassallo Arguello. Most bets placed on tennis matches go unnoticed, but what made this one odd, was most of the $7 million in bets were placed on Arguello, after Davydenko had already won the first set. Davydenko eventually retired from the match citing a nagging toe injury. Since the investigation has begun, the bets have been canceled, and the money has been returned. It's too early to say whether or not Davydenko was aware of the betting and if he fixed the match. Time will tell if he fixed it or not, but here are reasons why he may or may not have.


Davydenko possibly fixed the match:
• the disparities in their world rankings (#5 vs. #73)
• most of the $7 million in bets came after he was already winning the match
• despite the injury, he is continuing to play tournaments without resting
• the amount of ATP players being asked to fix matches
• other Russian tennis players were photographed with a suspected Russian mobster

Davydenko unlikely fixed the match:
• he is #4 in the world, and has too much to lose if caught fixing matches
• he has been having foot problems, which were noticeable during the match
• despite the foot problem, he was noticeably trying to win the match
• he has been struggling in the early rounds of tournaments lately
• he truly seemed stunned when word got out regarding the investigation
• Davydenko was not one of those photographed with the suspected mobster

Only time will tell, but I truly hope he isn't involved, and I don't think he is. I am not however stunned by the fact that many players and judges are asked to fix the games.

Federer's Dominance

Well, he's at it again. Roger Federer didn't even have to play his recent match at Wimbledon because his opponent, Tommy Haas, withdrew due to a "torn stomach muscle". Regardless of the reason for his withdrawal, it wouldn't have made much difference because the way Roger Federer has been playing, the ATP could have reincarnated Arthur Ashe, and still not have brought him down. Roger's complete and total dominance over tennis today is simply awe inspiring. Not only is he the four time defending Wimbledon champion and a winner of ten grand slam events, but the way he has sustained his success on the court and consistently dismantled his opponents has made him not only the best in his generation, but the best ever. Anyone who questions this need only look at the recent Australian Open, where he went through the whole tournament without dropping a single set. And for his so called "rival" Andy Roddick? the three times they met at Wimbledon, A-Rod went down. In fact, in those three matches, Roddick only managed to win 2 sets combined. Just recently, he overcame his one achilles heel by beating his other rival Rafael Nadal on a clay court for the first time at the Hamburg Masters tournament. Don't be surprised to see it happen more often now that Roger has figured out how to do it. Keep your eyes on the final match as you will be sure to see Roger Federer add to his 10 grand slam titles and maintain his record streak of consecutive weeks ranked #1 in the world by the ATP. He has been there since February 2, 2004 and he doesn't look to be leaving there soon

Posted by Teresa at 6:18 PM 0 comments