Tennis match-fixing: Djokovic 'was offered £100,000 to lose match'

Novak Djokovic, the world's top tennis player, says he was offered £100,000 to throw a match ten years ago, fuelling the debate over recent claims of match fixing in the sport.

However, the Serb joined other heavyweights in insisting tennis did not have a serious problem.

Reports of match-fixing, made by the BBC and website Buzzfeed, have dominated today's start of the Australian Open, with Djokovic being questioned about them following his first-round victory over Korean Hyeon Chung.

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In reply, he said he had been offered money to lose a game at the St Petersburg Open in 2006.

"I was approached through people that were working with me at that time, that were with my team," he said. "Of course, we threw it away right away. It didn't even get to me. The guy that was trying to talk to me, he didn't even get to me directly. There was nothing out of it.

"Unfortunately there were some, in those times, those days, rumours, some talks, some people were going around. They were dealt with. In the last six, seven years, I haven't heard anything similar."

He also suggested speculation surrounding the allegations was unhelpful. "People are talking about names, guessing who these players are, guessing those names," he said. "But there's no real proof or evidence yet of any active players for that matter."

An "unusually angry" Roger Federer also weighed in on the issue, reports Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian. "He was particularly upset by the claim that one of the players under suspicion was a Grand Slam champion," he says.

"I would like to hear the name," said Federer. "I would love to hear names, then at least it's concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it. Was it the player? Was it the support team? Who was it? Was it before? 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."

Other players, including Serena Williams and Marin Cilic, were also asked about the claims after their matches. "For most of the day, interest switched from the courts to the press conference room, where administrators and players were quizzed as if on a conveyor belt of suspicion and doubt," says Mitchell.

But he adds there is a feeling in Melbourne that "the only way these reheated claims will damage the sport is if players are named".