'Tennis umpires banned for gambling on matches' - report

The report on Tuesday also claims that four more umpires could be banned from the sport for life on "serious corruption charges".

The Guardian report claims: "Umpires from Kazakhstan, Turkey and Ukraine are among those alleged to have taken bribes from betting syndicates in exchange for manipulating live scores on the International Tennis Federation’s Futures Tour – which allowed crooked gamblers to place bets already knowing the outcome of the next point.

The question of transparency within the International Tennis Federation has been raised by The Guardian for the governing body's failure to disclose the betting scandal.

Under the terms of a contract the ITF signed with the data company Sportradar in 2012, umpires are asked to update match scores after each point from small tournaments using official tablets.

The score is transmitted to live-score sites and bookmakers, who update their 'in-play market' from tournaments around the globe to reflect the correct odds for customers.

It is has been alleged that some umpires were delaying updating the scores for around one minute giving gamblers time to place bets knowing the outcome of certain points.

The Guardian claims some umpires contacted gamblers to inform them before updating the scores via their tablets.

In terms of points settling games and sets, it would give gamblers inside knowledge ahead of bookmakers in getting more favourable odds and an advantage over the market.

It has been said the betting scam took place in ITF futures tournaments in eastern Europe, the lowest level of tennis, with no TV coverage, and umpires apparently willing to take bribes.

Tennis is already dealing with historical claims surrounding match-fixing among some players.

Allegations of corruption in world tennis were reignited last month when a former Australian professional tennis player pleaded guilty to match-fixing just hours after a top global bookmaker suspended betting on a suspicious match at the Australian Open.

The case against former 187-ranked player Nick Lindahl reached court after reports surfaced last week that tennis authorities had failed to deal with widespread match-fixing, marring the opening of the year's first Grand Slam tournament.

Lindahl pleaded guilty in a Sydney court to one charge related to match-fixing in a minor 2013 tournament, but will contest a separate evidence-tampering charge on technical grounds.

Two other charges were dropped by prosecutors after the guilty plea, and could face up to 10 years in prison.