From Centre Court to Crown Court

Tennis' governing body the ATP have claimed that they plan to tackle corruption in the game, in light of the match fixing allegations surrounding Nikolay Davydenko. The Russian, who is widely regarded as one of the better players on the tour, is suspected of fixing a game between himself and Martin Vassello last year.

The ATP have announced that an investigation will be conducted after the Davydenko-Vassello game in August 2007 was the subject of irregular betting patterns. "This incident raised the profile and made us all really look at this issue," ATP Chairman Etienne de Villiers told BBC Sport. He added that: "It raised the issue in the players' minds and galvanized the sport to move faster than we were moving."

The issue was pushed further up the agenda as a consequence of British no. 1 Andrew Murray's claim that "everyone knows" that match fixing is prominent on the tour. However, much like bungs in football, there appears to be little or no evidence to prosecute. Whilst the intentions of the ATP are admirable, the truth of the matter is that unless a senior figure on the tour puts their head above the parapet and comes forward with substantial evidence, then the investigation will have been an expensive waste of time.

Whilst most in the game accept that these types of underhand activities go on, it is virtually impossible to prove it.

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