With IMG Gambling Lawsuit Looming, Tennis Must Cut Ties

Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive, ATP, Sports Business and Media

Tennis officials have come out from under their desks and spoken about the game's latest gambling scandal, the $40,000 that Ted Forstmann, CEO of IMG, bet on Roger Federer to beat Rafael Nadal in the 2007 French Open.

Forstmann, pictured right, is the head of a company that serves as an agent to top players -- including Federer and Nadal -- and also owns several pro tournaments and portions of the media covering the sport. He might well be the most powerful person in tennis.

So on Thursday, the Tennis Integrity Unit said in a statement that it had "contacted Mr. Forstmann'' and "made it clear'' that any bets he made since January 2009 were against the rules.

What? Since 2009? No one has accused him of betting since then. But that is when the TIU was formed because of the sport's gambling problems.

Meanwhile, the ATP Tour, the men's tour, also issued a statement Thursday. It had power before 2009.

"The ATP has sent the message very clearly to Mr. Forstmann,'' the ATP said, "that we consider his behavior inappropriate and that he will be in violation of the rules if he engages in such activity in the future.''

You have got to be kidding. They are not going to do anything to Forstmann other than to tell him that if he does it again, he'll be in really, really big trouble next time?

Tennis might have looked tougher when it was still hiding under the desk. This man is so powerful in tennis that the sport's governing bodies are too afraid and too weak to enforce what they know is right.

It turns out that tennis didn't prohibit owners of tournaments or player-agents from betting until 2009. So no, his bet wasn't against the laws of tennis, but it was against the ethics of the game.

He knows it. That's why he used a go-between to place his bets.

Tennis knows it. That's why it put in rules against gambling.

And tennis can't seriously be asking, "Well, what can we do? It wasn't against the rules back then.''

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://tennis.fanhouse.com/2010/11/11/with-img-gambling-lawsuit-looming-tennis-must-cut-ties/

Michael Essien Michael Owen Mikhail Youzhny Miroslav Klose Nemanja Vidic