The World's Most Manipulated Sport

GM. This is Ad-Out Tennis. We decode the tennis news like how a toddler cracks your iPhone password - with ease.

Here’s what we got for you today:

• Modern Tennis Etiquette

• World’s Most Manipulated Sport

• Madrid 1000 Action

👇 Listen: Naomi Osaka talks about returning to the tour as a first-time mom, her new found appreciation for tennis, and the influence Kobe Bryant had on her.

TENNIS FANBASES

Tennis Etiquette 101

Back in the day, tennis was meant for the ladies and gents. Those who were well-mannered, respected line calls, and never celebrated net cords. Fans behaved the same way - they stayed quiet during points and celebrated only after the point was done.

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, because being well-mannered and respecting line calls are a thing of the past. Here are some of the recent headlines rocking the world of tennis fans lately:

• Alex de Minaur middle fingers a rowdy crowd in Barcelona

• Medvedev screams at the line judge and umpire in Monte Carlo

• Rublev defaulted from match after yelling at line judge 

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this is bad for tennis. I LOVE seeing a tennis player throw a tantrum like my 2yr old! It’s pure comedy and it shows us that the worlds best athletes are just like us… childish!

You know who else is crazy? The FANS! Let me show you:

• French crowd boos Fritz through his post-match interview

• Kyrgios stops the match to get drunk man ejected at Aussie Open

I’m not suggesting the fans get as wild as Liverpool fans, but tennis is a lot more entertaining when the crowd is involved. 😂

THE MAESTRO

The World’s Most Manipulated Sport

Think you’re persuasive enough to convince more than 150 tennis pros to throw away their careers for a few extra bucks? Probably not. Well that’s exactly what Grigor Sargsyan, aka “The Maestro”, managed to pull off.

How? By exploiting how little low-level tennis pros make on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) tour.

Sargsyan’s tennis fixing career began after he learned that the winners of Futures and Challengers tournaments earned barely enough to pay for their hotel rooms. If most of these players lived paycheck to paycheck like him, he knew they would be easily corruptible.

So how’d the Maestro do it?

During local tournaments, Sargsyan drove to the hotels where the players stayed and poached every desperate looking player in the lobby. Want to know what he said?

“Do you like gambling..?” and that was it.

He eventually leveled up and recruited coaches from tennis academies around the world who would provide a pipeline of desperate and willing players for him. By the end of the Maestro’s reign, he grew his criminal enterprise to over 180 players and coaches, had nearly 400 confirmed fixed matches, and $9M in his pocket.

Betting regulators now report tennis is the world’s most manipulated sport.

Can we trust what we see on the court anymore? 🤔

TRENDING

Honestly, I’d have the same reaction 😂😂😂

MADRID MASTERS 1000

Dirt Ballers in Madrid

The run-up to Roland Garros is underway in Madrid this week. Here are the potential matches I’m looking forward to in the earlier rounds:

• Tommy Paul vs Alexander Zverev

• Hubi Hurkacz vs Arthur Fils

• Jiri Lehecka vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

• Seb Korda vs Daniil Medvedev

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