Clement reveals match-fix offer

Clement was not prepared to reveal details of the offer

Frenchman Arnaud Clement, a former top 10 player, has revealed he was offered money to throw a match.
"It happened to me but I will not tell you where or how," he said after his first-round defeat to Mikhail Youzhny at the Paris Masters on Monday.

"I didn't hesitate for a second, I said no," added the 29-year-old, now ranked 53rd in the world.

"It may be different for a guy who's not that high up in the rankings and who has financial problems."

Clement, runner-up at the 2001 Australian Open, added: "It's very serious. I can't imagine that a top 10 player could accept that but it's hard to imagine as well that guys go to tournaments to make such offers.

"I haven't heard many players say it happened to them."

Earlier on Monday French Tennis Federation (FFT) president Christian Bimes said organisers of the Paris event were taking the threat of possible match-fixing very seriously.

"We consider this a serious problem," Bimes said. "It is a dreadful disease which is a threat for tennis worldwide.

"We have to act straight away and be as severe with this as we are with doping," he added.

Betting on matches at the Paris event is being watched for anything suspicious, while matches are also being recorded and analysed by former players and ATP supervisors.

Players are also banned from betting at the venue.

"We have contacted police," said FFT general director Jean-Francois Vilotte.

"If we were to trace a suspicious amount of money placed on one match and to notice anything irregular during that match, we would hand over the information to police and they would launch an official investigation."

Britain's Andy Murray claimed earlier this month that "everyone knows" corruption goes on in tennis.

His comments came after bets on a match in August between Russia's Nikolay Davydenko and lowly-ranked Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello was voided by British online exchange Betfair because of unusual betting patterns.

Davydenko, who has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, was fined $2,000 (£976) for not trying hard enough during his defeat by Marin Cilic at the St Petersburg Open last week.