I would imagine it's easy to fix with less that win/loss outcomes, as well. Get a player ranked in, say, the 30s, who's expected to steamroll a player a hundred or more places below, bet on the higher ranked player losing the first set instead of winning in straight sets. The player doesn't have to lose, just drop a set, much easier to convince them that's OK, but the smaller upset still provides the ability to make some money.
Yes, if one can place a bet on the outcome of individual sets, then fixing a match would be very easy. Looking at the earnings of tennis players this year, less than 200 earn $100,000. Given that, I absolutely can believe that the mob can influence more than a handful of players.
Well, the only question now is which film studio will be first to get their tennis cheating movie to the theaters; disgraced tennis star violates probation on match fixing charges, sent to prison and forced to play mixed doubles game of inmates vs guards- "The Longest Serve"
why tennis would be vulnerable to match fixing I recently read a decent mystery where the protagonist's main gig is finding horse races out in the middle of nowhere in Australia where an unknown horse is a sure thing (or near to). The opening round of a tennis match is a perfect place for this kind of thing given the asymmetry of information. At anything past #100, I'd imagine bettors are going almost entirely on rank and maybe a bit of info on who's better on what surface. #150 in the world losing to #220 isn't going to set off any alarms.
And Davydenko gets thumped in the first round...
