The world No1 was speaking after easing into the third round of the Australian Open for the 10th year in a row with only minor inconvenience in three sets, 6-1, 6-2, 7-6, against the teenage French qualifier Quentin Halys, and seemed surprised by a barrage of questions about a match that took place nine years ago. The American did not win a single game in the decider and Sharapova wrapped up the set in just 31 minutes.
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The Italian was a potential banana skin for the Serb, having dumped Federer at the same stage past year, and Djokovic stamped his authority on the match early by racing out to a 5-0 lead. You can pick any match that you like that the top player lost and just create a story out of it. I think it’s not supported by any kind of proof, any evidence, any facts.
It’s bound to come out, Roddick said in another tweet: “In the age of leaks and social media, I don’t think secrets exist”. At Melbourne Park, he has lost only one match in the previous five tournaments. That’s my point. There hasn’t been too many matches where top players lost in (the) last decade or so in (the) early rounds. “We are really good friends and we practise together a lot (but) I think when we play each other and we both play well, we enjoy it because we have great rallies, good matches”.
Asked if he had found preparing for his match against Seppi hard, Djokovic said: ‘Honestly I’ve had quite a few press conferences in my life. It’s tough because he has to do more and I’m always pushing him back.
The video shown in Rod Laver Arena included tributes from Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios – but Djokovic’s did not appear.
Federer will next play Grigor Dimitrov, who has a style that has been compared with Federer’s, after the No. 27-seeded player beat Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
The BBC and BuzzFeed News claimed on the eve of the Australian Open that 16 top players had repeatedly been suspected of involvement in fixed matches but never faced action.
Williams was on Rod Laver Arena, the main court, against No. 69-ranked Daria Kasatkina, and Djokovic – who has won 34 of his last 35 matches at Melbourne Park, was on Margaret Court Arena against No. 28 Andreas Seppi.
Federer, playing his 65th consecutive major, advanced 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
“You know you’re in a Grand Slam environment, third round and against an opponent you haven’t played… that’s fired up and is not going to just give you the match and that’s exactly what happened”, she said. “So that’s something that keeps me going”.
Other seeded players joining in the third round included No. 6 Tomas Berdych, No. 7 Kei Nishikori, 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, No. 14 Gilles Simon, No. 15 David Goffin, No. 19 Dominic Thiem and No. 24 Roberto Bautista Agut.
“It was very close in the last two sets and could have gone either way”.
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And Roberta Vinci was knocked out by Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam in three sets, meaning there will be no rematch of last year’s US Open semi-final when she halted Williams’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
