Tennis world rocked by match-fixing scandal

The tennis world has been hit by match-fixing suspicions.

Leaked documents to BuzzFeed and the BBC indicate 16 top-ranked tennis players faced scrutiny for allegedly participating in a long-running suspected match-fixing scandal that roped in gambling syndicates from Russia and Italy and hit at such notable venues as Wimbledon.

The just-revealed documents, dubbed the "Fixing Files," included 2008 records from an investigation into tennis match-fixing allegedly "orchestrated by gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy" and "which authorities subsequently shelved," BuzzFeed reported.

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"They could have got rid of a network of players that would have almost completely cleared the sport up," said Mark Phillips, one of the investigators, to the media outlet. "We gave them everything tied up with a nice pink bow on top and they took no action at all."

Apparently, authorities let the investigation drop.

As the Daily Mail reported, "a string of Gland Slam winners, none of whom have yet been named, were reportedly allowed to continue their careers despite suspicions being repeatedly raised that they had thrown matches."

The news outlet said the investigation had focused on 16 core players but included a total of 70 who raised red flags.

BuzzFeed, along with BBC, took the leaked documents pursued the matter, creating and using an algorithm to look at the results of professional tennis matches and gambling in the years since that 2008 shocker. And that media outlet's findings?

BuzzFeed found 15 players who "regularly lost matches in which heavily lopsided betting appeared to substantially shift the odds," something seen as a "red-flag" for match-sixing.

The outlet also identified four players who defied great odds, at 1,000 to one, to lose certain matches.

The leaked files and documents also revealed "winners of singles and doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments are among the core group of 16 players who have repeatedly been reported for losing games when highly suspicious bets have been placed against them," BuzzFeed reported.

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Moreover, "players are being targeted in hotel rooms at major tournaments and offered $50,000 or more per fix by corrupt gamblers," the documents revealed, BuzzFeed reported.

The revelations come as the Grand Slam 2016 season opens in Australia.

Tennis authorities have refuted the findings.

"I can assure you that tennis is not treating this lightly," said Chris Kermode, the president of the Association of Tennis Professionals, to BuzzFeed. "The idea that tennis is not acting appropriately is ludicrous."