#AustralianOpen: Opening day overshadowed by match-fixing scandal

The report by BBC about match-fixing in professional tennis just adds to the theory that professional sports are corrupt, and hopefully for the sake of the sport that more information is able to surface and those who are responsible can be banned from tennis.

A BBC and Buzzfeed News investigation has uncovered documentary evidence of match-fixing in the sport which also allegedly includes a significant number of players who have been in the world’s Top 50 in and also Grand Slam matches, even at Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic cools down during his match against Chung Hyeon on Monday. The journalists did not name any of the players.

“Name the fixers”- that’s the message from Roger Federer. Who was it? Was it before? Was it before? Was it a doubles player, a singles player?

Djokovic said he was confident corruption was not an issue at the highest level of the sport despite the Tennis Integrity Unit’s successful prosecution of 18 people since it was formed in 2008.

“You have to be proactive I think 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”.

“The Tennis Integrity Unit and tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn’t being thoroughly investigated”, said head of the Association of Professional Tennis Players Chris Kermode.

Play continued on Day Two at the Australian Open, but the biggest story remained the one happening off the courts as players continued to react to the Buzzfeed and BBC investigation into match-fixing in men’s tennis.

The Scot insisted he had never been approached to rig a match but admitted he was not surprised Grand Slam winners could be involved.

There are also reports that the evidence has been pushed aside. Vanilla statements like: ‘something is being done, ‘ or ‘we have not suppressed evidence, ‘ are not going to cut it. A committee which addresses media, lays down facts and spells out the modus operandi without compromising on ongoing investigation, is needed.

TIU chief Nigel Willerton declined to say whether any players at the Australian Open were being monitored for suspected match-fixing.

The world No. 1 spoke about the offer in the wake of allegations about widespread corruption at the top levels of tennis.

“It’s do think it is important from a young age that players are better educated and made aware of what they should do in those situations and how a decision (to match fix) can affect your career and the whole sport”. “As long as it’s like that, it’s just speculation”.

“I was not approached directly”, the Serbian said.

“I was not approached directly”, he said, “but through people that were working with me at that time, that were with my team”. “Of course, we threw it away right away”, Djokovic said. I know I am very far away from betting even though it is very popular in Croatia. “There was nothing out of it”.

William Hill became the first “official wagering partner” of the Australian Open last year, and this year advertisements for the British bookmaker adorned the three main showcourts at Melbourne Park for the first time.