I was asked to fix matches: Kokkinakis

Australian young gun Thanasi Kokkinakis has revealed he has been approached to fix tennis matches.

In the wake of the release of a BBC-Buzzfeed report that alleged widespread corruption in the sport, the 19-year-old said he had been offered bribes by “randoms” on social media to lose.

“Not face-to-face, but on social media you read some stuff on your Facebook page, just these randoms from nowhere saying: ‘I’ll pay you this much to tank the game’,” Kokkinakis told 3AW.

It comes after world No.1 Novak Djokovic confirmed he was offered $200,000 to throw a first-round match in St Petersburg almost 10 years ago.

Kokkinakis said he wasn’t sure of the exact amounts, but it was much less than the sum Djokovic was offered.

“You don’t really take it seriously,” Kokkinakis said.

“Obviously there’s no time for that in this sport – it just corrupts the sport.

“You try and block it out and do what you need to do on court.”

Kokkinakis said he believed most professional players had encountered issues surrounding match-fixing.

“I’d say for more than not it comes up,” he said.

Kokkinakis is not playing in the Australian Open due to a shoulder injury which he said he suffered while playing basketball with mates.

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