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Georgian tennis star Nikoloz Basilashvili landed in trouble after a German television broadcaster accused him and Aslan Karatsev of match-fixing.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), a German public-service television broadcaster, raised suspicions about Basilashvili's doubles match (partnering Radu Albot) at Wimbledon after a significant amount of money was wagered on that match.
In response, the Georgian has said that all accusations are baseless.
"Last weekend, it came to my attention that media publications in Germany have made mention of my name in connection with allegations of so-called "Match Fixing". These allegations have no basis at all and I reject them in the strongest possible terms," he said.
"I will not accept seeing my name and reputation being severely violated through baseless and absurd accusations. I therefore demand that such allegations and lies stop immediately and the public, through the media, must be informed that I totally and utterly deny all of these absurd accusations," he added.
He also announced that he was hiring a German lawyer to protect his interests.
"I have empowered a German law firm to protect my interests and to act in every possible way to fight this extremely damaging misinformation," he stated.
Basilashvili and Albot made it to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon 2022, where they lost to Colombian pair Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. In singles, he made a third-round exit after losing to Tim van Rijthoven.
Aslan Karatsev follows Nikoloz Basilashvili in denying all match-fixing allegations
Russian former World No. 14 Aslan Karatsev has also refuted all claims of match-fixing and said that he wasn't aware of any such allegations.
“I have not heard of it. I don't know what you're talking about, but it will be nonsense," Karatsev said.
According to ZDF, both players' former coach Yahor Yatsyk could be at the center of the scandal. They claim that Yatsyk has bribed the two players to influence their matches on a few occasions.
