The Paris prosecutor’s office announced Tuesday that it would be opening up an investigation into allegations of match-fixing during the 2020 French Open, according to a report from the Associated Press. Concerns stem from a women’s doubles match that took place on September 30.
Concerns over potential match-fixing began when, according to reports from German publication Die Welt and French publication L’Equipe, large sums of money were being placed on Romanian players Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig to beat a team of Madison Brengle of the United States and Yana Sizikova of Russia in a particular match. The money reportedly came in from different countries, and centered around this part of their match:
Mitu and Mari went on to win the first-round encounter 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, before they were knocked out in the third round of the competition on Sunday.
As of this moment, the investigating bodies have not released a whole lot of details — knowledge of which game is even being investigated is based on insider sources from the aforementioned outlets. All that’s officially known is that the probe was opened a day after the match, Oct. 1, and that the charges being investigated are organized fraud and sporting corruption.
The Tennis Integrity Unit, who the French tennis federation referred the AP to, said, “In line with the TIU policy of operational confidentiality, we are not able to comment on this matter.”
