World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko has again denied he has ever been approached to throw a match and questioned claims by some players that they had been offered money to fix results.
The Russian remains at the center of an investigation into a betting scandal following his defeat by Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello at the Sopot Open last August.
He was involved in two other controversies later in the season, when umpires questioned his efforts at the St Petersburg and Paris ATP events.
PHOTO: AFP
But he told the Sunday Age newspaper here that he had done nothing wrong.
"Everything that is written is not true," he said. "I am clean and I am still playing tournaments and I try my best, try to win my matches."
"In the press I am like the bad guy, not nice guy or good guy," he said.
He also questioned claims by fellow players that they had been approached to influence results, or had heard about such approaches.
"I cannot believe these guys," Davydenko said. "I think these guys try to be clean. They try to say `somebody is asking me [to tank], but I say no, so I have nothing to do with it.' People try to be some nice guy for the press, or for the people."
In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Davydenko said he was angry at his treatment by the ATP since the betting affair emerged, claiming he was being victimized because they wanted him out of the world's top 10.
"Maybe they just found one tennis player who they want to remove from the world's top 10?," he told the broadcaster. "Maybe there is someone below me in the rankings who is more popular and they want to increase his popularity?"
According to the BBC, the ATP requested Davydenko's phone records last autumn.
He initially refused to hand them over, but did comply last month.
Now ATP investigators reportedly want the phone records of Davydenko's wife, Irina, and his brother and coach Eduard.
The duo have been given a deadline of 15 business days after Davydenko's last match at the Australian Open, the BBC said.
ATP chief executive Etienne de Villiers called Davydenko's claims of being victimized "fanciful" and said it was irregular betting patterns that were being investigated and not an individual player.
"We are not investigating either player -- we've never ever said this is about Davydenko or Arguello," De Villiers told the BBC. "We said this is about an irregular betting pattern and we need to get to the bottom of it."
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
RSS