“I was not approached directly. I was approached through people that were working with me at that time,” Djokovic told reporters in Melbourne after winning the opening round at the Australian Open.
As reports of match fixing raises its ugly head in tennis, World number one Novak Djokovic on Monday said he was approached to fix a match earlier in his career as the scam marred the opening of the Australian Open.
Djokovic, after opening with a win over South Korea’s Chung Hyeon, played down the report but he also said he was targeted in 2007 to throw a first-round match at St Petersburg.
“I was not approached directly. I was approached through people that were working with me at that time,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“Of course, we threw it away right away. It didn’t even get to me, the guy that was trying to talk to me, didn’t even get to me directly. There was nothing out of it.
“Unfortunately in those times (there were) rumours, some talks, some people were going around. They were dealt with.
“In the last six, seven years, I haven’t heard anything similar. I personally was never approached directly, so I have nothing more to say about that.”
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Djokovic was reportedly offered $200,000 to throw the match, in an incident which gives an insight into the murky world of match-fixing — which the Serb called “a crime in sport”.
“It (approach) made me feel terrible because I don’t want to be anyhow linked to this kind of thing,” he said.
“Somebody may call it an opportunity. For me, that’s an act of unsportsmanship, a crime in sport, honestly. I don’t support it.
“I think there is no room for it in any sport, especially in tennis.
“I always have been taught and have been surrounded with people that had nurtured and respected the sport’s values. That’s the way I’ve grown up.
“Fortunately for me, I didn’t need to get directly involved in these particular situations.”
The 10-time Grand Slam champion added that it was “borderline” to have a betting company sponsoring this year’s Australian Open, a move which has caused disquiet in some quarters.