Nova Djokovic does not believe match-fixing is widespread in the sport of tennis, insisting the vast majority of the players in the circuit are honest professionals, playing the game in the right manner.
After the BBC and Buzzsport broke a story on several players coming under suspicion of match-fixing over the last ten years, speculation has been rife over who those players could be, but as far as Djokovic, who eased into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday with a straight-set win over Hyeon Chung, is concerned the latest allegations do not prove the modern-day sport is struggling with corruption.
"I don't think [it is bad]. Honestly I've heard about the story and I read that there were a couple of players mentioned who are not active anymore, talking about the matches that have happened almost 10 years ago," the world number one told reporters.
"Of course, there is no room for any match-fixing or corruption in our sport. We're trying to keep it as clean as possible. We have, I think, as a sport evolved and upgraded our programs and authorities to deal with these particular cases.
"I don't think the shadow is cast over our sport. In contrary, people are talking about names, guessing who these players are, guessing those names. 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. So I think we have to keep it that way."
Djokovic, nearly a decade back, had admitted to being offered $200,000 by an unknown person to fix a match, and the Serbian elaborated on how it all went down, while insisting he hasn't received any such offers in the recent past.
"I was not approached directly," Djokovic added. "I was approached -- well, me personally, I was approached through people that were working with me at that time, that were with my team. 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, 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."
