Tennis match-fixing: Sport rocked by claims of widespread corruption, including top players and matches at Wimbledon

• Widespread match-fixing accusations levelled at top tennis stars
• Investigation claims tennis' governing bodies have been warned on fixing
• Grand Slam title winners are alleged to be among the reported players
• Three matches at Wimbledon are said to have been fixed in recent years

Wimbledon was dragged into a new tennis match-fixing scandal when secret files suggested three matches may have been thrown there in recent years.

Leaked files from anti-corruption investigators allege that the sport's authorities have covered up the extent of the problem and allowed some of the main suspects to continue playing.

The documents have been passed by whistleblowers to Buzzfeed News and the BBC, who have decided not to reveal the players' names. But from a group of 16 who were implicated when the scourge was at its height around eight years ago, some are still on the circuit.

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Matches at Wimbledon are among those caught up in a new tennis match-fixing scandal

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Secret files suggest that three matches have may have been fixed on the SW19 courts in recent years

TENNIS MATCH-FIXING ALLEGATIONS - THE KEY NUMBERS 

16 - core group of players who are claimed to have repeatedly been reported for losing games when highly suspicious bets have been placed against them. 

26,000 - matches that are alleged to have been examined in a report handed to tennis' governing bodies that was not acted upon.

£35,000 - the figure said to be offered per fix to players by corrupt gamblers.

70 - players names reported to appear on nine lists of suspected fixers flagged up to tennis authorities.

It is alleged that more than half of them were in the starting field for the Australian Open, which began on Monday.

The central allegation is that an examination of 26,000 matches given to the sport's governing bodies in 2007 provided enough evidence to tackle players, but was not acted upon.

Three matches at Wimbledon are said to be in the files, though it is not clear when they took place. The Tennis Integrity Unit, set up to police the sport in 2007, said they had a zero-tolerance approach to betting-related corruption.

Their job was to look into suspicious betting activity after a game involving Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello. The two players were cleared of violating any rules but the investigation developed into a much wider inquiry looking into a web of gamblers linked to top-level players.

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