Does fixing really happen in tennis?

Is tennis corrupt? This is the question uppermost in the minds of fans (assuming fans have minds).

There is no solid, Ambuja cement, concrete evidence. But there are some curious facts. There have been curious precedents. These together with common sense suggest that the sport, like most sports, like most human endeavour, is not clean.

Let us look at the facts. In August, World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko was playing an obscure player from Argentina, Martin Vassallo Arguello, in the second round of the Poland Open. But the money was on Arguello.

Strange.

Davydenko won the first set easily. The money was still on Arguello.

Really strange.

Arguello won the second set. In the third, he was leading 2-1 when Davydenko withdrew, citing injury.

Some 3.5 million pounds were bet on the match, almost ten times what an early round match in a plain vanilla Tour event would attract. Betfair, a gambling portal, thought all this was suspicious. They told the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals).

Since then, some players have acknowledged the murky elements in tennis. Andy Murray said he knows of players being made offers. But no one has admitted to have fixed a result.

On Saturday, the anti-corruption drive claimed its first victim - Italy's Alessio di Mauro. He was banned for nine months. But Di Mauro bet on other players' matches. There was no fixing. Nonetheless, his suspension has added to the atmosphere of dishonesty and disappointment around the sport.

Tennis has faced these charges before. Short Circuit, the roiling book on the world of tennis by Michael Mewshaw, exposed the crooked ways of the game's stakeholders way back in 1983.

The heartening thing is this. If fixing happens, it is logical to believe it generally happens with lower-ranked, lesser-known players. If and when the stars do some hanky-panky, they perhaps do it in small events. A recognised player like Davydenko, just to provide an example, might muck around in the Poland Open but not at the US Open. A no-name, on the other hand, would not have any qualms about betting even in a Grand Slam. He doesn't have a chance or a reputation anyway.

Luckily for contemporary tennis, it has at its vanguard Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin, three stars everyone loves and, pertinently, trusts.