Is the ATP's gambling episode as bad as it sounds?

Nikolay Davydenko retired with a foot injury last week in Poland, which coincided with some suspicious betting activity. AP

MAILBAG Jon Wertheim will answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag every Wednesday. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Open the Mailbag boasting about how clean tennis is, and look at what you get: "As the NBA grapples with a betting scandal, tennis must now confront a potential gambling scam of its own. Officials on Friday were investigating suspicious betting patterns on a match involving top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who retired with an injury against a low-ranked opponent at an ATP tournament in Poland."
-- Jim Bartle, Huaraz, Peru

After acknowledging that, a) yes, this is some rich irony after last week's riff on tennis' moral rectitude and b) there's a fine line between optimism and denial, I'm not sure this is a galactic scandal. In fact, I submit this episode might be a disguised blessing for tennis. Go ahead and roll your eyes, but first hear me out.

Betting on tennis is completely asinine, especially at low-level events. For one, the top players get appearance fees, which immediately casts doubt on their motivation to win. More important, the bettor sitting at home, a world away from the site, is armed with deeply imperfect information.

In other sports, there are injury reports, open practices and constant media scrutiny. At the Sopot Open or Lyon Grand Prix or the Umag event, there is none of that. A player could rupture his spleen the night before a match and Joe Gambler, with his off-shore Internet account, would never know it.

Sexy as it is to surmise that last week's match was "fixed," or that Davydenko was on the take or that organized crime has infiltrated tennis, it wouldn't surprise me at all if something far simpler happened. Person X had some inside information about Davydenko. He saw the guy limp around the locker room. He watched as the guy filled up a pillowcase at the hotel ice machine. He overheard Davydenko booking a weekend appointment with his podiatrist. Whatever, he then leaked the information. The inside information spread among his circle of contacts and bets were made accordingly.

I remember a few years ago at the Australian Open, Amélie Mauresmo hurt her shoulder before a big match. On the practice court, she winced and cried and audibly complained that she felt like she was being stabbed every time she hit the ball. As it turned out, she defaulted. Still, I remember thinking that there was nothing preventing an observer at this practice session from racing to the betting tent and, armed with this inside information, putting big bucks on Mauresmo's opponent. But some gambler half way around the world would have no idea about the extenuating circumstances.

No question, Davydenko-gate (hey, at last the guy gets publicity!) smells rotten. We'll all see how this plays out. (First question: Why was there allegedly betting against him after he won the first set?). And it's too bad it supplanted Maria Sharapova's title or John Isner's unlikely emergence, as the week's top story. But as we wait for the result of this "investigation," it already illustrates just how ill-suited tennis is for betting. With any luck, folks will realize as much and take their gambling jones -- and the accompanying ugliness -- to another sport.

What is it with the slight against Anna Chakvetadze being a headliner? The biggest news in women's tennis this year is Chakvetadze, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. Any of them in a tournament will sell seats now. Granted, at the beginning of the year they wouldn't sell many seats, but now that they are Nos. 3, 4 and 6 in the world, they will sell seats! Don't dis Anna!
-- Randy Mayes, Bradford, Pa.

No dis intended. All credit to Chakvetadze, who's coming close to cracking the top five. But let's be honest: She ain't selling tickets. No one is looking at the newspaper saying, "I wasn't going to attend that event; but now that I hear Anna Chakvetadze is entered, I'm so there!"

One day soon, perhaps. But if the U.S. Open Series is to be anything more than marketing window-dressing, it's essential that the bona fide stars commit to these events, not some Appearance Fee Open in Umag or Kitzbühel. It's great that the USTA can get the top stars to hop on a bus and film a cute commercial; but it would be better if these players actually entered the events they were pitching.

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