In 2007 Novak Djokovic was Offered $200,000 to Throw a Tennis Match

In the wake of BBC/Buzz Feed News' recent report detailing widespread match-fixing in the upper ranks of world tennis, Novak Djokovic spoke about his own encounter with such dealings. In a press conference at the Australian Open on Monday, Djokovic said that back in 2007 he was offered $200,000 to throw a first-round match in Russia.

"I was approached through people that were working with me at the time," he said, via ESPN. "It made me feel terrible because I don't want to be anyhow linked to this kind of--you know, 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.

Djokovic didn't accept the offer. In fact, he didn't even attend the tournament, but the admission sheds some light on tennis' hidden darkside.

The sports governing body (apparently FIFA has company now) was reportedly warned several times about a group of suspected match-fixing offenders. The players in question have all ranked inside the top-50 in the world, but none have faced sanctions and many of them will play in the Australian open. It has now been 7-years since officials were first made aware of these findings, but still nothing has been done.

Other prominent high ranking tennis players, like Roger Federer, were asked for their take on the subject.

"I would love to hear names," Federer said. "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. Like I said, it's super serious and it's super important to maintain the integrity of our sport. So how high up does it go?"

No names have yet been put on the record, as the findings are through leaked files. But the article did say that the gambling origins are suspected to be from Russia and Italy.

As for actual tennis, both Federer and Djokovic won their opening matches at the Australian Open.