Wimbledon’s good name was dragged back into the controversy over match-fixing and corruption in tennis yesterday when Gilles Elseneer, a Belgian, revealed that he had been offered ¤100,000 (about £70,000) to throw his first-round match against Potito Starace, of Italy, at the 2005 Championships. He immediately refused.

After last year’s first-round victory for Richard Bloomfield, then the British No 5 and ranked No 259 in the world, over Carlos Berlocq, of Argentina — 170 places higher on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) computer — it came to light that an extraordinary £300,000 had been placed on the Betfair exchange for the Argentinian to lose, which he did in straight sets. No one has got to the bottom of that affair.

Now comes Elseneer’s disclosure that, soon after he qualified for the singles event two years ago, he was approached “bluntly into my face” and told that he could make a hundred times more than his first-round winner’s cheque for giving up the match. “Think about it and give us an answer tomorrow,” he was told.

“I had my honour as a player to protect and Wimbledon meant everything to me,” Elseneer said yesterday. “They said I should take my time and give them my reply the next day, but I only needed a couple of minutes to realise it was impossible for me to contemplate.” He won in straight sets.

Another Belgian, Dick Norman, a ten-year tour veteran, has also confessed to being approached and offered about ¤12,500 at Wimbledon, although he cannot recall the year, to turn informant on the state of health, mind and physical fitness of his fellow players. He also declined.

The revelations from Elseneer and Norman will hasten attempts by those running tennis to strike at one of the most cancerous elements in sport. At the US Open this month, officials of the ATP, Sony Ericsson Women’s Tennis Association Tour, International Tennis Federation and the grand-slam tournament chairmen debated pooling their resources and working towards delivering a comprehensive, common anti-corruption unit.

The extraordinary rise of online gambling and increasing number of people given backstage access to tournaments big and small — a variety of agents, managers, coaches, physios, therapists, psychologists, friends, families, hangers-on — requires an ever-growing demand for vigilance.

Etienne de Villiers, chairman and president of the ATP, whose management team are on a working retreat in Britain, said: “I am not surprised players are being approached in sport today but what I care about is their reaction, where they stand in terms of their responsibility to the sport and what the consequences are.

“It’s about education, values and moral compasses. But it is a disaster for tennis if anyone considers that the sport is corruptible. Gamblers like to have information no one else has and we have to fight tooth and nail to ensure we have a level playing field.

“We have never stopped pursuing every avenue to preserve the integrity of our sport. We have very rigorous programmes. We have Draconian penalties.

“We can fine a player up to $100,000 (about £50,000) for transgressing our code and impose a maximum lifetime ban if it continues. If we find anyone, be it a player, someone in their entourage, anyone, the maximum ban will be imposed. There is zero tolerance.”

Concerns at the potential spread of the gambling disease was such that, at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in March, De Villiers took Michael Franzese, a former mobster, to the player meeting to preach about the perils of gambling. “He made it clear that it doesn’t stop. It never lets you go,” he said.

Both the ATP and WTA have a memorandum of understanding with 11 online betting companies, most notably Betfair, to maintain a flow of information and log irregular movements in the market.

The ATP has also sought help from the British Horseracing Association and hired two former Scotland Yard detectives with experience in the gambling underworld to help them swiftly to sift the information.

Taking a punt

— About £2.5 million was bet with traditional bookmakers on this year’s Wimbledon men’s final, in which Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal. More than £30 million was traded on Betfair.

— Eight per cent of online bets placed with Ladbrokes are on tennis — double that of cricket. It is most popular with punters in Scandinavia.

— Betfair voided £4 million of match bets on the encounter between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello last month after irregular betting patterns. Davydenko drifted alarmingly in the market before retiring with a foot injury.

— Betfair has had a memorandum of understanding with the ATP since 2003.