He also questioned how right it was for betting companies to sponsor tournaments, with the BBC-BuzzFeed allegations bringing scrutiny on the Australian Open’s partnership with William Hill.
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“I’m always very curious with that stuff across really all sports… sports could in general be much, much more transparent”.
Speaking after he eased into the second round at Melbourne Park, Murray said Novak Djokovic’s revelation that he had been offered $200,000 to throw a match in the early years of his career highlighted the temptation facing young players. “Knowing Djokovic I understand why he declined and, on the whole, I can not even imagine who would make him such offer”, he added.
Andy Murray believes that the tennis authorities should do more to educate young players about the dangers of match fixing.
“Well I think 2009 was maybe the only day in my life that I hit 4, 5 hours”, Verdasco said, looking at the clock beside the court to compare it with their semifinal meeting.
With a strong local following behind him, Australian Groth has already promised to take the match to Murray following his four-set win against Adrian Mannarino on Tuesday.
There were two big upsets in the women’s draw, with No. 2 Simona Halep and seven-time Grand Slam victor Venus Williams losing in the first round. Play began as scheduled on those courts, including the opening match on Rod Laver between fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich. “So I think it can be only positive”.
Keys, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal a year ago at the Australian Open, fended off two set points in the ninth game before coming back to win the first in a tiebreaker.
And Murray – who has been close but yet so far in his bid for an elusive Australian Open crown, having fallen short in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015 – is braced for an onslaught in the pair’s first singles meeting. He talks about how the betting syndicates work and claims that match-fixing is widespread in the professional game at all levels.
The 28-year-old Murray, a former victor of the US Open and Wimbledon and Olympic gold medal at London 2012, admitted he had known that match-fixing was a problem in tennis since he was a youngster but has never been approached himself. Although [administrators] don’t necessarily want to hear about tennis or their own sport being involved in anything like this, it can be positive in some ways, as well, if they react properly. “But Kim will message my team if anything’s going on during the matches, and I’ll see what happens”.
“You know, I think you should be learning about those things from 15, 16, 17 years old and being warned about it”.
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“I have [received offers], not face-to-face, but on social media”, Kokkinakis said.
