The Wimbledon Tennis Championships are always at the top of the sports calendar for the year, and the 2009 edition promises to attract more interest then ever.   It is the 123^rd edition, and the third Grand Slam of Tennis event of the year.  The games will take place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon , from Monday, June 22 through Sunday, July 5^th.

The online gambling sportsbook sites figure to do a box office business for two reasons:  The pre-tournament favourite, Rafael Nadal, has a bad knee and has withdrawn from the competition, and there is a suspicion of match fixing among a few lesser known players.  With regard to the latter, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) will be closely monitoring the matches of up to 12 lesser-known players to ensure there will be no suspicious results as happened last year.

The matches in question involved those of Daniel Kellerer and Oscar Hernandez in the Ordina open first round of competition.  It seems that a Russian spectator placed a huge amount of money on Hernandez who pulled the upset victory.  The same situation occurred earlier this year in the Monte Carlo Masters in a first round match between Monegasque Jean-Rene Lisnard and Christophe Rochus from .

Tennis match-fixing is no stranger to organized crime.  Recently, Italian Mafioso Chieftain, Michael Francese, revealed, in exchange for a plea bargain, just how a match fixing can be manipulated.  These individuals look into players’ histories regarding their gambling habits, or recent expenditures, to see if there may be a financial need.  They offer the unsuspecting player a loan and, when the player is unable to repay the loan within time limitations, the player is coerced into fixing the match.  The mob bets heavily, and wins a bundle because the fix is in.  Early matches will be noted with great interest, especially those with heavy and peculiar online sportsbook gambling patterns. 

At the present time, the legendary Roger Federer is EVEN money to win the Men’s Title, while Serena Williams is a 3-2 favourite over her close rival and sister, Venus (5-2), to capture the Women’s Championship.  The OnlineGambling.co.uk Sports guru has informed us that while Federer is the sentimental and overwhelming favourite among the men, he is picking Martin del Petro at 10-1 as an upset special.  On the distaff side, look for both Williams sisters to fall by the quarterfinal round, as Maria Sharapova, presently at 6-1 odds at most online sportsbook gambling parlours, will be hoisting the Winner’s Cup.