Novak Djokovic was once indirectly approached with an offer of $200,000 to throw a match in St. Petersburg—an offer immediately rejected—but Djokovic himself has never had direct meeting with match-fixers.
Following his Australian Open first-round win, Djokovic was asked about the investigative report from BuzzFeed News and the BBC that alleges Grand Slam champions are among a core group of 16 players cited for corruption on leaked lists from match fixers.
More: Match-Fixing Charges Rock Australian Open
The world No. 1 confirmed a member of his team was once approached with an offer to throw a match years ago in Russia, but was immediately rebuffed.
"I was not approached directly... I was approached through people that were working with me at that time, that were with my team," Djokovic confirmed following his Australian Open first-round win. "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, rumors, some talks, some people were going around. They were dealt with. In the last six, seven years, I haven't heard anything similar."
The 10-time Grand Slam champion called match fixing a "crime in sport."
"It made me feel terrible because I don't want to be anyhow linked to this kind of... somebody may call it an opportunity. For me, that's an act of unsportsmanship, a crime in sport honestly.," Djokovic said. "I don't support it. I think there is no room for it in any sport, especially in tennis. But, you know, I always have been taught and have been surrounded with people that had nurtured and, you know, respected the sport's values. That's the way I've grown up. Fortunately for me, I didn't need to, you know, get directly involved in these particular situations."
Asked if he believes lower-ranked players at the Challenger level, struggling for prize money and ranking points, are more vulnerable to fixing matches, Djokovic said he he doesn't believe there is wide-spread corruption at the top level of the sport.
"From my knowledge and information about, you know, the match fixing or anything similar, there is nothing happening on the top level, as far as I know," Djokovic said. "Challenger level, those tournaments, maybe, maybe not. But, you know, I'm not entitled to really talk about it. I can give my opinion. But there is an organization, authorities, people who take care of that on a daily basis and make sure to track it down.
"It's always a choice for a tennis player, an athlete or any person in life. Even though it seems that you don't, but you always have a choice, especially for somebody who is on the tennis court, whether or not you're going to accept something that is going against everything that the sport stands for. I would always make the right choice. But I can only speak on my own behalf."
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