World number one Novak Djokovic says he felt “terrible” when he was offered money to fix a match in 2006 and has denounced the practice as a “crime in sport”.
Djokovic instantly rejected the bribe made to him 10 years ago and insists he is unaware of any match-fixing currently happening at the top level of the game.
An investigation carried out by the BBC and Buzzfeed alleges that over the last decade a core group of 16 players have repeatedly been brought to the attention of the sport’s governing bodies over suspicions they have fixed matches.
The report claims all of the 16 players have ranked in the world’s top 50 and that more than half of them were playing in the Australian Open first round, which started on Monday.
Chris Kermode, president of the ATP which governs the men’s professional tour, said the sport’s authorities “absolutely reject” the suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed.
Djokovic has previously claimed he was offered £110,000 to lose a first-round match in St Petersburg but says the bribe was turned down before it even reached him.
“I was not approached directly,” Djokovic said.
“I was approached through people that were working with me at that time, that were with my team.
“Of course, we threw it away right away. It didn’t even get to me, there was nothing out of it.”
Djokovic added: “It made me feel terrible because I don’t want to be in any way linked to this – somebody may call it an opportunity. For me, it’s an act of bad sportsmanship, a crime in sport honestly.
“I don’t support it. I think there is no room for it in any sport, especially in tennis.”
It is alleged that in 2007 tennis authorities were presented with an examination of 26,000 matches, three of them at Wimbledon, which contained enough evidence to root out offenders – but no action was taken.
Djokovic, however, insists he is not aware of any match-fixing at the top level of the game.
“From my knowledge and information about match-fixing or anything similar, there is nothing happening on the top level, as far as I know,” Djokovic said.
“At Challenger level, those tournaments, maybe, maybe not. But I’m not entitled to really talk about it. I can give my opinion.
“But there is an organisation, authorities, people who take care of that on a daily basis and make sure to track it down.
