23rd April, 2000

Any fixers would cop a serve

THE Hansie Cronje betting scandal has again pushed illegal gambhng in sport into prominence.

Cricket is a sport which has shown itself to be vulnerable. One of the reasons illegal punting has happened in cricket is the low level of money available to the players compared with some other sports, including tennis.

There is so much money in tennis, from prizemoney to endorsements and appearance money, that if somebody offered a player $15,000 to throw a match they would laugh at you. Nobody is going to risk ruining their career for that kind of money.

But in other sports, it could be different for some people.

Greed is always a factor, but how much money is enough?

I'm not a serious gambler, but -I've had small bets on myself at Wimbledon. I might have $10 or $20 and it's all totally legitimate.

There is no way I've been involved in any kind of match fixing and I don't know of anybody in tennis who would be prepared to risk their careers. When you think about the level of prizemoney and sponsorship in tennis, it is ludicrous to suggest there could be corruption among the top players.

It is possible you could offer a lowly-ranked player money, but at the level we're talking about $15,000 - you're talking about a player who probably couldn't influence the outcome of a major -,tournament anyway.

So what would be the point? There is none.

The whole focus of tennis betting among players is to have a bit of fun. I know several of the boys had good wins betting on Wayne Arthurs at Wimbledon last year because they all knew what a great grasscourt game he has.  But that's the extent of it.

If somebody came to me offering me money to throw a match or be involved in something corrupt, I'd just laugh at them.

There is no player I know who would deliberately lose a match to

make money betting. When you go on court, regardless of how you feel, you want to win. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.