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."
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS