Novak Djokovic angrily denies claim he lost a game deliberately in 2007

“I remember that match”.

“It made me feel awful because I don’t want to be anyhow linked to this kind of – you know, somebody may call it an opportunity”, Djokovic said.

Tuttosport suggested that Djokovic could have deliberately lost to Santoro at the Paris Masters in 2007. The paper wrote that Djokovic possibly “swung his match against Fabrice Santoro at Bercy in 2007”.

“What it is to say?”

“You can pick any match that you like that the top player lost and just create a story out of it. I have nothing more to say [on the allegations]”.

A host of former players have backed Djokovic and his fellow stars who have called for any evidence of alleged wrongdoing to be made public.

Roger Federer extended his streak by reaching the third round for the 17th straight Australian Open, and registered his 299th match win at a major.

The issue blew up on the eve of the Open as the BBC broadcast a program charging that tennis bosses had turned a blind eye to various match-fixing scandals in the period from around 2008, with the broadcaster saying the ATP has “failed to act on repeated warnings about suspect players”.

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.

“I don’t really know”, Serena said.

“It was an incredible moment to be in the final of this event again”, said Sharapova, who played her first-round match on Margaret Court Arena, one of three e two other covered stadiums at Melbourne Park.

‘I said everything I needed to say two days ago. Was it the support team? Was it a doubles player, a singles player? Which slam? It’s so all-over-the-place. “It’s nonsense to answer something that is pure speculation”.

Until now, the average fan may have had little idea that tennis is one of the most gambled on sports in the world, with bookmakers actively taking bets mid-match. “No one knew it was happening at the Grand Slams”, ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe said. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.

Citing an unidentified ex-tennis player from South America, the BBC reported on Tuesday that match-fixing is a common practice – even among several elite players.

Despite an increasing amount of evidence of suspicious activity revolving around a significant number of top players, no sanctions were handed out and the investigation was officially shelved the following year. Players who sign up to fix matches are paid strictly in cash so that there is no financial trail to link they to these match fixing allegations.

The offer was dismissed out of hand. “Previous year the third round was the end for me, so I hope to go further this time”.

“It doesn’t matter how much money you pump into the system, there’s always going to be people approaching players, or people, in any sport”.

The world No. 47 said: “I’ll be trying to come up with a game plan and get a bit of revenge for what happened in Glasgow”.

“I have nothing more to say”.

“I think if anyone is found to be doing it, they shouldn’t be playing again”.