In an extraordinary development to tennis's ongoing match-fixing crisis, the world No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko has been fined $2,000 for a lack of effort in his recent defeat to Marin Cilic in the St Petersburg Open.
"Nikolay Davydenko was fined $2,000 for lack of best effort in his second-round match against Marin Cilic," said the ATP in a statement.
Davydenko was warned by Belgian umpire Jean-Philippe Dercq in the final set for not trying hard enough. The player responded after the match with a firm rebuttal of the allegation. "I double-faulted to lose a game in the third set and he gave me a warning saying I was trying to lose on purpose," he told reporters after the match.
"I was simply shocked to hear him say that. This is just outrageous. How does he know what I was trying to do? I was so upset with the whole thing I started crying."
