{"id":879640,"date":"2026-09-04T11:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879640\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:24:10","slug":"they-disturb-the-game-how-betting-fans-are-taking-over-tennis-courts-us-open-tennis-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879640\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They disturb the game\u2019: how betting fans are taking over tennis courts | US Open Tennis 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Midway through the first week of the US Open a couple of years ago, Jiri Lehecka\u2019s attempts to find his form were disrupted by incessant taunting from a spectator close by. \u201cThere was a guy who sat just behind my bench on a smaller court, court 4, and he was talking to me basically for the first three sets, like nonstop,\u201d Lehecka says. \u201cHe was talking to me like: \u2018You can\u2019t do it. You are tired. He\u2019s better than you are.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehecka maintained his composure and closed out the match, but even as he focused on navigating the intense stress of competition, he believed he understood this spectator\u2019s motivations. The spectator, he thinks, was not there just to cheer for his favourite player: he was a bettor who had put money on Lehecka to lose. He had entered court 4 solely to influence the outcome of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that moment, I took it as a motivation, but just out of curiosity, I spoke to the chair umpire and I was like: \u2018Do you think this is normal? Can you do something with that?\u2019\u201d says Lehecka. \u201cThe reaction was not very powerful. It was: \u2018Yeah, I can\u2019t do anything as long as he\u2019s not insulting you.\u2019 It was some person who knew exactly where the line was. So it wasn\u2019t a nice experience. I won that match, actually, but I think that as soon as you start going against the other player instead of cheering for the player you had a bet on, I think this is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presence of disruptive bettors in the stands at tournaments has been a growing trend in the sport, an additional annoyance that players must navigate: \u201cI think that we can see this, basically, I don\u2019t want to say in every tournament, but in many tournaments, especially in Europe,\u201d says Lehecka.<\/p>\n

While players report seeing bettors at tournaments around the world, from the grand slam events to the lower level World Tennis<\/a> Tour, where the presence of these individuals are even more conspicuous in the absence of large crowds, certain tournaments have gained notoriety for the presence of bettors. At the Italian Open, it has become commonplace to see spectators trying to get into players\u2019 heads and matches from the picturesque surrounds of Pietrangeli stadium. The US Open is another tournament where players have repeatedly reported the presence of disruptive bettors.<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian world No 14, agrees: \u201cIt happened a lot of times, not just in Italy, but in every part of the world. Unfortunately, there\u2019s still this problem that we see sometimes, especially in some matches which is pretty clear that there\u2019s some people from the crowd that they bet and that they are cheering for the ones that maybe it\u2019s not the home favourite or they disturb the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jiri Lehecka at the US Open in 2024, when he was harassed by a spectator Photograph: Marek Janikowski\/Icon Sport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Last year, the Swiss player Leandro Riedi angrily confronted a spectator he believed actually had money on him to win before reporting him to the chair umpire. Naturally, this is a greater issue for lower-ranked players assigned to smaller courts in closer proximity to spectators than the top players on the big stage.<\/p>\n

Betting is an unavoidable theme in modern tennis that affects all levels of the sport with negative consequences everywhere. After every loss, and even wins, professional players can be subject to abuse, threats and hate speech on social media from bettors. Betting is also at the heart of corruption within the sport, with many players over the years being sanctioned for throwing matches.<\/p>\n

But this year\u2019s US Open has further thrust the subject in the spotlight. On the eve of the tournament, the organisation announced a partnership with Kalshi, the sports betting and prediction company that allows users a wide variety of predictions. Almost as soon as the partnership had been announced, the US Open sent push notifications from its app for articles sponsored by Kalshi offering match predictions. While players continue to receive the negative consequences of betting, the US Open profits from the same beast.<\/p>\n

For now, there are no rules in the Association of Tennis Professionals, Women\u2019s Tour Association or grand slam rulebooks aimed at weeding out disruptive bettors and umpires can only step in if a spectator becomes abusive. Players are split on whether they should accept this situation. Some, like Musetti, argue there is more the tennis governing bodies can do: \u201cThe only thing that we can do is try to avoid these people \u2026 the [tennis governing bodies] have to do something and have some security because we cannot do much on the court,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

However, some also feel they should accept that bettors in the stands have become a part of the sport. Jakub Mensik says players simply have to accept and manage these situations: \u201cSometimes it\u2019s so obvious you can see it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt happens to me plenty of times but I know that I cannot do anything because [bettors], those kinds of people, sometimes they don\u2019t know what to do with their lives. They\u2019re just trying to enjoy it and wishing all the other players the worst so it\u2019s part of the game. It\u2019s basically already part of us, part of all of the athletes, and we just unfortunately have to manage it. There is no other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prediction market platform Kalshi is now an official partner of the US Open. Photograph: Martin Lelievre\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Tommy Paul, the American world No 21, similarly believes this is a regular part of professional sport: \u201cI think it\u2019s part of sports,\u201d he says. \u201cYou never react to anything. It\u2019s annoying, for sure. Everyone hears it. It\u2019s not like what you want to be hearing at the back of the court, but it\u2019s kind of what we signed up for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other players are defiant. During a recent match, Coco Gauff<\/a> wondered whether an incredibly loud fan was a bettor but she is adamant that no unruly bettor can get into her head: \u201cIf they want to come, they can try and see if they can rattle me, but it won\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the subject of whether he has dealt with this issue in any of his matches, Frances Tiafoe responds with a devilish laugh. \u201cI haven\u2019t gotten that,\u201d he says, smiling. \u201cYeah. You don\u2019t want me to have that. It would definitely hit headlines. Let me not even get into it. If that happened, it would be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Midway through the first week of the US Open a couple of years ago, Jiri Lehecka\u2019s attempts to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-879640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}