Stan Wawrinka claims tennis chiefs have ‘paid actors’ sit in on Davis Cup crowd
Veteran tennis star Stan Wawrinka claims the International Tennis Federation has hired people to sit in the crowd for the Davis Cup.
Wawrinka represented the Switzerland team at the tournament, where they competed against France and Australia in Group B. The Swiss were eliminated from the running for progression earlier in the week, before succumbing to a 3-0 defeat to Australia on Saturday afternoon.
Wawrinka had already highlighted the fact there were hundreds of empty seats for Switzerland vs France in a social media video. He also called out former Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, having formerly overseen the event.
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But the 38-year-old went a step further before the loss to Australia, taking to Twitter to make a wild accusation against the ITF. He claimed tennis chiefs were artificially generating noise inside the AO Arena, Manchester.
With that section of the tournament taking place on British soil, the Swiss alleged the tennis organisation were paying people to sit in the crowd in order to generate noise in an otherwise lacking atmosphere.
Wawrinka tweeted: “Trivia Davis Cup question: Did you know that @ITFTennis are paying people to support and make some noise for every country at every match.”
Do you think there is truth to Stan Wawrinka's bold accusation? Let us know in the comments section.
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Former Venezuelan player and coach Daniel Vallverdu was among those left questioning the outrageous claim. He tweeted in reply: “I hope that’s not true?” But Wawrinka doubled down, saying: “100% confirmed.”
American tennis ace Noah Rubin also voiced his doubt over the accusation, writing: "Wait, is this actually true or are you trolling?" But the world No.40 left him in no doubt, tweeting: "True" with two facepalm emojis.
Wawrinka was not involved in Switzerland’s all-important match against Australia. Thanasi Kokkinakis and Alex de Minaur trumped Dominic Stricker and Marc-Andrea Huesler in the singles, while Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell beat Stricker and Huesler 6-2 6-4 in the doubles.
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