Australian Open 2016: Thanasi Kokkinakis says he’s been offered cash to fix matches

AUSSIE young gun Thanasi Kokkinakis has revealed he has been offered cash to fix matches.

INDIAN WELLS, CA - MARCH 16: Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia celebrates defeating Juan Monaco of Argentina during day eight of the BNP Paribas Open tennis at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2015 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

AUSSIE young gun Thanasi Kokkinakis has revealed he has been offered cash to fix matches.

Kokkinakis, 19, said he has never been offered anything in the realm of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic — who yesterday admitted he had been offered $200,000 to throw a match — but said social media is the primary source of the offers “from randoms”.

“I have. Not face-to-face, but on social media, you read some stuff on your Facebook page,” he said on 3AW.

“Just these randoms (people) from nowhere saying ‘I’ll pay you this much money to tank a game’. I try and block it and get rid of that stuff and focus on what you need to do.

“It’s interesting — you get a lot of stuff if you lose a match that maybe the bettors or something think you should win — you just get abused on social media. It’s a very common thing. For tennis players, and I’d assume other sports, it’s a very common thing.

“You just try and block it away and there’s no time for that in this sport.”

Kokkinakis said he “doesn’t take it seriously” but wouldn’t be surprised if the offers are common for most players.

“You don’t really take it seriously. I don’t know the exact amounts (I’ve been offered). I saw someone offered Djokovic $200,000 — mine hasn’t been that much yet,” he said.

“You’ve just got to try and get rid of that stuff.

“I’d say (it’s common). I haven’t had open conversations about it. I’d say far more than not it comes up.”

Having endured a shoulder clean-up in December, Kokkinakis said he is aiming for an April return to the tour.

But he did reveal the cause of the initial injury, and said his coaches weren’t too happy about it.

“A few years ago someone landed on me while I was playing basketball and almost dislocated my shoulder,” the South Australian said.

“It was OK after that, but ever since then it kind of got worse and worse. I did some weights trying to bulk up a little bit. (My coaches) were aware, but not exactly stoked about it.”