Tennis French Open Chiefs Trying to ban betting

[dave nz]

Who'd have thought that tennis's most important battle would be waged not on Centre Court, Rod Laver Court or Suzanne Lenglen Court but in the Law Court?

French Open chiefs want to ban internet punters from betting on their tournament later this year and are taking legal proceedings against Ladbrokes, Betfair and Bwin, saying they stain the reputation of the claycourt championship. And we all thought it was just English players who did that.

"It is an issue as important as the fight against doping," said a French Tennis Federation dope, adding that if a match-fixing scandal should break at the French Open, it would undermine the value of a tournament that turned over 118million euros last year - double that if you include my bets.

If they go ahead with this ridiculous plan, I'm going to countersue France for allowing their women to have hairy armpits.

AdvertisementFor God's sake, there are only two reasons to have a French Open. First to stop Roger Federer winning everything and second for people to bet on it. If they ban betting, viewing figures will be half of whatever they are now, and 50 per cent of the remaining half will only be watching to catch a glimpse of Sharapova's knickers. They are not, I'd imagine, the kind of viewers that advertisers are looking for, although you never know.

Here's an idea for Les Frogs.

Instead of trying to rob people like me of the enjoyment of a bet on tennis, why not clamp down on the players you suspect of being crooked? I'd give you their names now, but I don't want to end up in court like Ladbrokes and Betfair.

Derek Mcgovern 05/02/2008