As more players opened up about being approached to throw matches, the Australian Open is now under close scrutiny, AFP reported. World No 86 and 19-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis said he was approached on Facebook, while former British Davis Cup player Arvind Parmar revealed he was once offered a cash-filled envelope. The police are on the lookout for suspicious results in the ongoing Grand Slam tournament, according to the Australian media.

The scandal was exposed by a joint investigation by the BBC and Buzzfeed News, who claimed on Sunday that 16 players who have been ranked in the top 50 in international tennis had been involved in match-fixing over the last decade. World No 1 Novak Djokovic admitted that he had been indirectly approached to throw a match and was offered $200,000, while world No 2 Roger Federer demanded that the players be named, AP reported. “It’s super serious and super important to maintain the integrity of our sport. The higher it goes, the more surprised I would be,” he said.

In its report, BuzzFeed had claimed that “more than half” the players, including singles and doubles Grand Slam champions, were at the Australian Open in Melbourne. However, tennis authorities refuted all claims that match-fixing evidence was buried.