Novak Djokovic Was Asked To Throw A Match In 2007 For $200K

With rumors about potential match-fixing continuing to swirl, at least one top player admitted that he was approached by someone asking him to throw the match.

In 2007, someone approached Novak Djokovic and asked the player if he would be interested in losing his first round match in a Russian tournament. If he did, he would be paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000. While he declined the offer and never even attended the tournament, Djokovic had encountered the underbelly of the sport.

“I was approached through people that were working with me at that time,” he said at the Australian Open on Monday. “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.”

Some have also taken issue with the fact that William Hill, a gambling company, is one of the sponsors of the Australian Open and has advertising around the grounds. Djokovic thinks that’s a topic for discussion, but finds himself on the fence.

“This is a subject for discussion, I think, today and in the future,” he explained. “It’s a fine line. Honestly, it’s on a borderline, I would say. Whether you want to have betting companies involved in the big tournaments in our sport or not, it’s hard to say what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Photo: Novak Djokovic  © Scott Barbour/Getty Images