“You have to be proactive with things like this and go and speak to the players rather than them reading about it in the newspapers or listening to it on the TV or the radio”, he said in Melbourne after winning his first round at the Australian Open against Alexander Zverev.
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The reports said eight of the players, who they could not name because of lack of hard proof, were playing at the Australian Open.
Defending Australian Open champion Serena Williams looked more exhausted by the post-match media conference than her second-round romp at Melbourne Park. He retired in 2010 with five titles and is now providing expert analysis as a pundit for
FOX Sports Asia’s coverage of the 2016 Australian Open.
Of course tennis isn’t the first sport to be caught out for match fixing and there have been many extensive cases in other sports.
Documents passed to the UK’s BBC television network and Buzzfeed News by anonymous whistleblowers within the sport report that the 16 players in question have all ranked in the top 50 in the world, and that among them are Grand Slam title winners. A little-known Austrian player Daniel Koellerer, who was banned for life in 2011, had told BBC after he was barred that he was offered to throw a match in Chennai when he had come to play the tournament back in 2009.
The key group of 16 suspect players had not been targeted in any crackdown, it said, questioning the effectiveness of the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), the sport’s anti-corruption body.
“There was a core of about 10 players who we believed were the most common perpetrators that were at the root of the problem”, he explained.
Sharapova was finished in 71 minutes Wednesday on Rod Laver Arena, the first match completed on day three after light rain caused delays on outside courts. “I don’t support it”, he said. “I think when people come with those sums of money when you’re that age, I think sometimes people can make mistakes”, Murray told reporters. “Tennis hasn’t been really getting the piece of that cake, if you know what I mean”. “So I think it can be only positive”.
Federer, who is trying to extend his record number of Grand Slam crowns to 18, then dismantled his 35th-ranked practice partner Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-5, 6-1.
“It’s a fine line”.
Asked on Wednesday if he would take action against Tuttosport, Djokovic said: “I have nothing more to say, guys”. Top tennis officials have categorically denied this.
“The Tennis Integrity Unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that any evidence of match fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn’t being thoroughly investigated”.
“The distinction to make is that betting itself is not an illegal pastime and many people do bet on sport”.
Kermode added that legitimate betting agencies could even help tennis authorities to spot corruption, since stamping out illegal gambling benefits them too. It’s only the second first-round loss in a major tournament for the former world No. 1, and the upset was the headline of the tournament so far – or, at least, it would have been.
Fernando Verdasco beat fifth-seeded Rafael Nadal for only the third time in 17 matches to send the 14-time Grand Slam singles champion packing.
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She even hit one shot around the post in the match, which she said afterward was the first in her career.
