All Bets Are Off

Well, it looks like things have finally come to a wrap on the whole Nikolay Davydenko gambling fiasco as the ATP has announced that he's in the clear.

It's been dragging on forever, but what a wild ride it was! Chair umpires accusing Nik of tanking, journeymen galore getting busted for betting on matches, players saying they were offered money but not saying from whom: Oh, what fun!

Seriously, though, over the course of the year, there were only two things that made sense to me about the whole situation being brought to light: One was Tommy Haas calling for the players saying they were approached to name names. The other was Davydenko's explanation for what could've happened—maybe someone overheard him exclaiming to his box that he might not be able to go on and others running with it. But then again, what gets me about that is that there was a TON of money being bet on that match. Could that little information create such a flurry? Hmmm...

HBO's "Real Sports" had a segment on this in its most recent episode. It was interesting, but I think it kind of appealed to everyone's craving of the sensationalistic. A point was made on the show about tennis allowing some almost-devious things to continue, such as guarantees and matches tanking. Could gambling be far behind? I hope that won't be the case.

I also hope this is the end of the whole fiasco.

Anyone want to bet that won't be the case?

(Photo: Getty Images)