Andy Murray’s tennis partner Feliciano Lopez ‘named in Spanish match-fixing investigation’
Murray is due to make his return from injury alongside Lopez on Thursday at Queen’s but the Spaniard has been embroiled in a match-fixing investigation that has expanded from football to tennis
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Your support makes all the difference.Feliciano Lopez has been included in the alleged match-fixing investigation in Spain a day before he is due to partner Andy Murray on his return to competitive tennis.
The Spanish tennis player has been named in a report by newspaper El Confidencial as being under suspicion of match-fixing during a doubles match at Wimbledon in 2017 alongside partner Marc Lopez.
The police raid into alleged match-fixing in football last month is understood to have now spread into tennis, a sport where corruption has been prominent due to recent investigations within the sport.
Lopez has been unavailable for comment after his singles match at Queen’s on Tuesday against Marton Fucsovics was rained off, but the Press Association reports that he strenuously denies the allegations and is taking legal advice.
Mark Lopez has also strongly denied the allegations, and the 26-year-old told Spanish daily AS: "We have nothing to do with it, they have no right to dirty our names like that."
Murray, who has been forced to wait to make his return from hip surgery after rain delayed play at Queen’s, is due to play alongside Lopez on Thursday in Kensington and his team are known to be aware of the reports.
El Confidencial claims that the investigation that lead to a raid on Spanish La Liga side Huesca has expanded into an allegation that surrounds a tennis match at the 2017 Wimbledon Championship. The Lopezes played Australians Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith in the opening round of the men’s doubles, and won the opening set before losing 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2.
The report claims that former footballer Carlos Aranda, who has been implicated in the Spanish football investigation that has been named ‘Operation Oikos’, was heard saying during a phone call telling the person on the other end of the line that the Lopezes would lose the match.
The account does not imply any wrongdoing on behalf of the two tennis players, but information about the match was believed to have been passed on.
Feliciano Lopez withdrew from his singles match against Adrian Mannarino due to injury the day before the doubles match in question, and he also required treatment during the defeat against Reid and Smith.
The Tennis integrity Unit has confirmed that it is aware of the allegations that have been report, but added “in keeping with its policy of operational confidentiality we will not be making any comment on the matter."