The company are one of the key players in investigating match manipulating in the betting market and Alex Inglot, Sportradar's head of communications, claimed tennis is one of the key problem areas when it comes to fixing professional sports matches.

"There are serious concerns about tennis at various levels," he said.

"I know a number of professional tennis players who say there are certain countries where you go to play tournaments and every single player will be approached [to fix a match].

"That doesn't mean everyone is doing it but if everyone is being approached you can be pretty sure there will be those that do.

"You have to be in the top 120 or 130 players in the world of tennis to break even which means there could be 1,000 players on the tour who are making a loss.

"If that isn't vulnerable I don't know what is."

A match involving Ukraine's Denys Molchanov saw irregular betting on the Challenger Tour last year ©AFP/Getty Images


Concerns have surfaced recently over a Challenger Tour match in Dallas between Denys Molchanov and Agustin Velotti which showed clear irregular betting patterns.

More than £600,000 ($920,000/€803,000) was staked on the contest between Velotti and world number 174 Molchanov, a surprisingly high figure for a match of that standard.

Velotti, according to the pre-match odds, was given a 48.3 per cent chance of victory, yet that had increased to over 80 per cent despite the fact he was a set down, before he went on to win the contest 2-1.

Sportradar managing director strategy and integrity Andreas Kannich added that he feels the problem needs to be addressed further by getting sporting federations, the police forces, bookmakers and even Governments to be united in tackling the issue.

"Currently there is not the status of trust between bookmakers, the police and sporting federations to deal with this matter," he said.

"We need to establish a working environment where investigations can be carried out.

"The Federations and the police forces have to share information and it's crucial that the bookmakers are a part of this.

"Match-fixing is an international problem and we need communication based on facts."

Sportradar have also announced they have signed a three-year agreement with Six Nations Rugby Limited, which will see the next three editions of the the senior Men's, Women's and Under-20s Six Nations Championships monitored using the companies fraud detection system.

"To date, rugby, particularly international rugby, has thankfully stayed clear of match-fixing and match manipulation," Six Nations Rugby Tournament and Operations director Jon Davis said.

"But we would be naïve to discount the risk altogether, so, in order to head off the possibility, The Six Nations in consultation with the six Unions decided that the Sportradar service would send a clear message.

"We hope to hear very little, if at all, from Sportradar in the coming years; but if we do, supporters and stakeholders of the Six Nations can rest assured that we will act quickly and with conviction."

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