Dolgopolov hits back over match-fixing allegations
Alexandr Dolgopolov has hit back at allegations of match fixing relating to his clash with Thiago Monteiro at the Winston-Salem Open.
This Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) last week confirmed it was looking into suspicious betting patterns surrounding a 6-3 6-3 victory for Monteiro – ranked 114th at the time – over Dolgopolov, who failed to engineer any break points in the match.
Following his 3-6 6-3 6-2 1-6 6-3 win over Jan-Lennard Struff in the US Open first round on Wednesday, the Ukrainian was asked for his reaction to the issue and denied any involvement.
"You want my honest answer? I don't give a f*** to be honest, because it's like a circus," said Dolgopolov.
"I think I should be asking you guys how you feel about your fellow journalists writing about maybe there's a fix in the match because there is a market.
"I read the article. It was like the statistics of my break points. Are you serious? You are going now to the statistics and saying it might be fixed because there is a market? Are you writing news or fairy tales? I go on social media and every time I have to delete 10 messages because people are doing threats, stuff to the family.
"So, for me, I don't want to even talk about it. I talked to the TIU. I respect their work. I gave all the information needed. At the end of the day, what's going to happen is I'm not involved in anything.
"That's going to be what happens and these guys are still going to write that bulls***. For me, writing those things before there is an investigation is silly."
Dolgopolov was disappointed the news had surfaced before any official findings had been published.
"The press talking about match fixing. Let's talk about facts. There is a TIU that does their job. If they find something, good, let's talk about it. Before that it's a pity that the guys are writing and hurting people's image without anything, just a betting pattern," he said. "How do I have anything connected with that?"
Dolgopolov insisted he was trying his best to defeat Monteiro but was not at the top of his game physically.
"I was giving my best effort. I wasn't playing my best. I was doing a lot of practice before [arriving at Flushing Meadows] because I wasn't feeling good against [Nick] Kyrgios in Cincinnati. I was physically weak. I blacked out in that match," he said.
"I wasn't happy with my physical condition and I knew by New York I needed to get some work done. Obviously, you want to be ready for the US Open at the tournament before. I was working hard and playing [despite] tiredness.
"I've spoken to the [TIU] a few times. They gather a lot of information and it's strange they always find nothing. There's so much match fixing we hear about, so many markets going on, and they never find anything? That's surprising."