Djokovic reveals match-fixing approach

It must be noted that a betting company is sponsoring this year’s Australian Open which has caused quite a furor after BBC and Buzzfeed claimed to have secret documents which contain reports of fixing claims including the names of some Grand Slam winners.

“The Tennis Integrity Unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn’t being thoroughly investigated”, said ATP chairman Chris Kermode at a hastily arranged media conference in Melbourne.

Djokovic had a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Chung Hyeon of South Korea at Rod Laver Arena on Monday, immediately after women’s defending champion and No. 1-ranked Serena Williams started her bid for a seventh Australian title with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 34-ranked Camila Giorgi.

“I have been going non-stop since the London Olympics, and seeing that this is another Olympic year, I kind of wanted to start the year out really fresh and really go at it again as hard as I can”, Williams said.

“It’s great. It was an hour and 45 minutes and I didn’t feel it at all”, she said. “Of course, we (rejected) it right away”. There was nothing out of it. There was nothing out of it. Unfortunately, there were some, in those times, those days, rumours, some talk, some people were going around. “I was able to stay in it and stay calm today and I think that’s what matters most”.

The opening day of the Australian Open was overshadowed by reports in the BBC and online BuzzFeed News accusing tennis authorities of failing to deal with 16 players repeatedly flagged up to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) over suspicions of matches being thrown.

The 28-year-old Serb said that although he was confident there was no longer a problem at the top level, he could not speak for further down the tennis rankings.

The allegations, he said, related to matches from nearly 10 years ago and didn’t involve active players.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to come back to Rod Laver Arena, it’s the most successful court in my career and there have been many memorable moments in the matches I’ve played here”, Djokovic said.

Williams pulled out of the lead-up Hopman Cup midway through her first match with knee trouble but looked untroubled as she burned around the court to fire 26 winners past the Taiwanese.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called on the sport’s governing body to investigate the allegations of widespread match-fixing that in tennis.

The Scot is aiming become the first man in the Open era to win the Australian Open title after losing four finals – the first to Roger Federer in 2010 and the other three to Novak Djokovic in 2011, 2013 and 2015. “But I’m really excited about it”, said Sharapova, who said she has been interviewing her mother, father and grandparents and plans to include some journals she kept as a young girl.

The American, who was recently named the greatest tennis player of her generation is in a search of a record-tying 22nd Grand Slam win in the Open era, which is now held by Steffi Graf.

Kvitova, who had to withdraw from a warm-up tournament in China because of a stomach virus, said her preparation was disrupted and she was nervous ahead of the rematch with Kumkhum.

“I let her back into the match, and it was basically my own fault that I’m not here as the victor”.