The World Number One has rubbished allegation made against him that he deliberately wanted to lose a match at the Paris Masters in 2007.
An Italian newspaper recently claimed that Novak Djokovic deliberately lost a match back in 2007 at the Paris Masters. He was then world number three and he was up against Fabrice Santoro of France, who ranked 36 places below him. The Serb lost that match 6-3 6-2 and there are now reports in the media that the match was fixed and Djokovic lost that match on purpose.
The current world number one is not concerned by this however. Talking to media he said that just because there has been an ongoing investigation against match fixing in tennis, the case of that match he lost in 2007 brought up to the surface. He added that media can take any match from the past he lost and can make a story out of it. He denies claims of match fixing and added that these reports are nothing more than allegation and speculation and it would not hurt him in any way.
“You can pick any match that you like that the top player lost and just create a story out of it,” he said. “I think it’s not supported by any kind of proof, any evidence, any facts. It’s just speculation, so I don’t think there is a story about it.”
A joint investigation carried out BBC and Buzzfeed news recently broke the news of match fixing in tennis on a large scale. The investigation further claimed that he Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) has failed to act against a group of 16 top-50 players, who are allegedly involved in match fixing. TIU is the organization that is responsible for policing the sport and is supposed to take action against such elements in Tennis that investigation reported.
Novak Djokovic recently revealed that he was approached by a bookie who offered him £110,000 to lose a first-round match at the St Petersburg Open in 2007. He however refused. Djokovic was grilled by journalists about the match he lost against Santoro in 2007 making the world number one lose his cool in a recently concluded press conference after his match at the Australian Open.
“What it is to say? I’ve lost that match?”
He slammed media for making baseless story over nothing. Djokovic said that if a top player loses an early match in some tournament does that mean he has deliberately lost it? By this theory, there are hundreds of matches in recent years which should be taken into same category of match fixing. The Serbian international added that if a player is not fully fit and is unable to give his hundred percent in a game, does that mean he is losing the match on purpose? He called these claims are absurd.
“I don’t know if you’re trying to create a story about that match, or for that matter any of the matches of the top players losing in the early rounds. I think it’s just absurd.”
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