Novak Djokovic Discusses When He Was Once Offered $200,000 To Fix A Match!
With the match-fixing scandal sweeping day one at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic was asked to detail an incident in 2007 when his team was approached to throw a match in St. Petersburg for $200,000.
“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,” Djokovic said. “It didn’t even get to me, the guy that was trying to talk to me, he didn’t even get to me directly. There was nothing out of it.
“Unfortunately there were some, in those times, those days, rumors, some talks, some people were going around. They were dealt with. In the last six, seven years, I haven’t heard anything similar.
“I personally was never approached directly, so I have nothing more to say about that.”
Djokovic went added that he didn’t give the BBC report much credence, but he wants tennis to remain vigilant in squashing any corruption.
“Of course, there is no room for any match fixing or corruption in our sport. We’re trying to keep it as clean as possible. We have, I think, a sport evolved and upgraded our programs and authorities to deal with these particular cases.
“I don’t think the shadow is cast over our sport. In contrary, people are talking about names, guessing who these players are, guessing those names. But there’s no real proof or evidence yet of any active players, for that matter. As long as it’s like that, it’s just speculation. So I think we have to keep it that way.”
The 5-time Australian Open champion Djokovic won today over Hyeon Chung.
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