After the secret files are made public, by BBC and online BuzzFeed News, the Tennis world faced several allegations of match fixing.
The match-fixing exists higher up the food chain, including at Wimbledon, and even the current players in Australian Open in Melbourne, are also suspected to be involved in the match fixing, the reports suggest.
However, the report could not bring out any evidence of match-rigging. But, it said, 16 out of the top 50 rankers had been repeatedly flagged to the TIU over suspicions that they had thrown matches in the past decade, but that none had been suspended, let alone banned.
After the issue went viral, here are the reactions, the current superstars gave.
Novak Djokovic: I don’t think a shadow is cast over our sport. People are talking about names, guessing who these players are. But there’s no real proof or evidence yet of any active players, for that matter. As long as it’s like that, it’s just speculation.
Maria Sharapova: I mean, to me the sport itself has always meant a lot more than money. I know that the more successful you are and the more matches you win, the more prize money, the more money you will receive.
But ultimately that's never been my personal driving factor in the sport. There's just so much more on the line. There's the competitiveness. There's the challenge of being better. There's playing in front of thousands of people, playing you against somebody across the net and you trying to win that match.
Serena Williams: Yeah, I just heard about it today, just as a warning that I might be asked about it. But that's literally all I have heard about it. Not that I'm aware of. When I'm playing, I can only answer for me, I play very hard, and every player I play seems to play hard.
I think that, you know, we go --you know, as an athlete, I do everything I can to be not only great, but, you know, historic. You know, if that's going on, I don't know about it. You know, I'm kind of sometimes in a little bit of a bubble.
Roger 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?
By Phani Ch
