Novak Djokovic of Serbia makes a forehand return to Chung Hyeon of South Korea during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016.
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William Hill became the first “official wagering partner” of the Australian Open last year, and this year advertisements for the British bookmaker adorned the three main show courts at Melbourne Park for the first time. The accusations relate to contests played about 10 years ago and prompted 10-time Grand Slam victor Novak Djokovic to reveal he was once offered £110,000 to lose a match.
“When the draw came out and I saw who I was playing I was like ‘Well, OK, I just hope to stay out there more than an hour, ‘” Konta said in a post-match TV interview, apparently as surprised as anyone after her straight-sets win over No. 8-seeded Williams. On the contrary, people are talking about names, guessing who these players are and guessing those names, but there is no real proof or evidence yet of any active players for that matter. Find us on Facebook too! “So I think we have to keep it that way”. She beat No. 9 Garbine Muguruza on the way to the fourth round of the U.S. Open previous year and also had a win over No. 2 Simona Halep.
There are reports out that allege widespread match-fixing in the sport, and that it’s being ignored.
“Of course, we threw it away right away”, Djokavic said.
“Well, this is a subject for discussion, I think, today and in the future”, Djokovic said.
A recent report from the BBC and Buzzfeed News claims that professional tennis has had a match-fixing problem, and that those in charge have known about it and refused to act.
“When I’m playing, I can only answer for me, I play very hard, and every player I play seems to play hard”, said Williams after beating Camila Giorgi in the first round.
A confidential report was then handed to tennis authorities in 2008 in which the enquiry team said 28 players should be investigated but the findings were never followed up, it is alleged. Like I said, it’s super serious and it’s super important to maintain the integrity of our sport.
Kvitova, who had to withdraw from a warmup tournament in China because of a stomach virus, said her preparation was disrupted and she was nervous ahead of the rematch with Kumkhum. “If that’s (match-fixing) going on, I don’t know about it. I’m kind of sometimes in a little bit of a bubble”.
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The reports overshadowed the start of the Australian Open while it has been argued that more needs to be done to defend tennis from the threat of match-fixing.
