The report referring to the Paris match is unrelated to allegations made in a BBC/Buzzfeed report, which has brought renewed attention to tennis’s struggles to to allay concerns about match-fixing since the explosion in online betting. I think we deserve to know everything that’s sort of out there.
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“I think it’s 40 years on the tennis tour that doesn’t excite me”, said Federer, contemplating any future life as a tennis father for his duel sets of twins aged six and almost two years old.
ATP Chairman Chris Kermode said that betting on sports was “a legal pastime” – not to be confused with corrupt forms of gambling like match-fixing.
The response to the reports was swift-with top players such as Andy Murray and Roger Federer calling for more information about the scandal.
Djokovic had confirmed on Monday that he was offered $200,000 to fix a match in St. Petersburg but that it was immediately turned down before the news even reached him.
Following yet another straight sets win at the Australian Open on Wednesday night, Djokovic was bombarded with questions about the match he lost when he was World No. 4 to the now retired Fabrice Santoro at the Paris Masters nine years ago.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Maria Sharapova advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, staying on course for a potential quarterfinal meeting with Serena Williams.
The world No. 187 produced the shot of the match in the tiebreaker – curling a shot around the net post from a wide position – but could not match Djokovic’s legendary consistency.
“You can pick any match that you like that the top player lost and just create a story out of it”. However, it said 16 players who had been ranked in the top 50 had been repeatedly flagged to the TIU over suspicions that they had thrown matches in the past decade, but that none had been suspended, let alone banned.
The BBC said the group also included “winners of grand slam titles” but neither organisation named players, insisting it is not possible to determine whether they were personally taking part in match-fixing.
“I think that certain media are just trying to create a story out of it without any proof.So as long as it is like that, it is just a story”.
He said it would remain speculation until there is “real proof and evidence”.
“I’ve played him a couple of times”.
The 92nd-ranked Bondarenko returned to the tour in 2014 and had failed to get through qualifying at four majors before making the main draw at last year’s U.S. Open.
He said: “As a player, you just want to be made aware of everything that’s going on. So I think it can be only positive”.
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Williams’ next opponent will be an 18-year-old – she’ll face the victor of the match between Russia’s Daria Kasatkina and Croatia’s Ana Konjuh, who were both born the year before Williams’ first Australian Open. He said he played at about 30 percent, adding, “I’m still on medications”. “Then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it. Was it the player?”
