Easy on the eye, Maria Sharapova is competing at the French Open

This is the last thing the sport of tennis needed right now. The Daily Mail reported earlier this month that an International Tennis Federation panel has identified 45 matches over the past five years which are “under suspicion” because of unusual betting patterns. The article goes on to raise the alarm by rehashing last year’s Nikolay Davydenko-related scandal and other recent examples of possible match-fixing.

Keep in mind that it’s the Daily Mail we’re talking about here. This is a British tabloid that begs to be made fun of. But over 2.4 million people in the UK read it, and tennis is in the spotlight with the start of the French Open and Wimbledon coming up in June.

In sharp contrast to the Daily Mail, the Guardian handled the story by emphasizing that the ITF found that “professional tennis is neither systematically nor institutionally corrupt.” The Guardian is a respected broadsheet with journalistic integrity – and a great sports section.

With the French Open in full swing, it’s still good clean fun to bet on tennis.