As Jannik Sinner delivered a masterclass on Sunday to defeat Carlos Alcaraz and secure his first Wimbledon title, a group of “spotters” was monitoring the audience to prevent illegal gambling syndicates from benefiting on the side. 

This year marks the initial use of undercover agents by Wimbledon officials within the crowd of tennis enthusiasts to pinpoint “courtsiders” – members of syndicates responsible for communicating points quicker than the official broadcast to take advantage of brief delays in betting markets. 

Courtside Dismissed 

According to The Daily Mail, multiple individuals known as “courtsiders” were removed from the stands during this year's tournament. The function of a courtsider is to relay information from the game before an umpire can hit a button to log the point and it is aired. 

They generally utilize hidden technology like altered smartphones and covert earpieces to accomplish this questionable objective. 

This might enable a gambling syndicate – some possibly connected to organized crime – to achieve a significant advantage through the in-play betting markets, where bets can be made on the details of a game instead of the final outcome of a match. 

What does Courtsiding mean in Tennis? 

Courtsiding in tennis is not a recent phenomenon. It was marked as early as the 2013 Australian Open, but Australia then did not have a legal structure to combat it. 

This changed later that year when Victoria enacted the Crimes Amendment (Integrity in Sports) Act 2013, which classified courtsiding as a crime, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. 

During the recent Australian Open, officials detained British citizen Daniel Dobson due to the recently implemented legislation. Dobson had been sending live points through a device hidden in his shoe. 

Courtsiding isn't explicitly illegal in the UK or the US; however, it is prohibited by tennis governing bodies in both nations and beyond. 

Forward-Thinking Actions 

So far, the majority of initiatives aimed at tackling gambling syndicates at Wimbledon have focused on responding to unusual betting behaviors. However, discussions on a courtside internet forum indicated that tournament organizers had improved their efforts. 

A forum user claimed they were recognized within 15 minutes of reaching Wimbledon—before they even entered a court—according to the Mail, indicating that tournament officials were employing facial recognition technology to identify repeat offenders. 

“Wimbledon is a Fort Knox of propriety and fairness,” a Daily Mail “source” said this week. “We go to great lengths to stop people exploiting our sport in any way, including by taking advantage of any unavoidable technical issue to make money.”