Safin avoids ATP betting investigation
MONTREAL: Marat Safin is steering well clear of the ATP's gambling probe currently centered on a match last week in which Russian compatriot Nikolay Davydenko withdrew injured.
"They can do whatever they want," said the charismatic former No 1, who advanced into a Wednesday meeting with defending Montreal champion Rafael Nadal, advancing 1-2 when Swede Robin Soderling fell victim to a wrist injury.
"I don't want to be involved in any of it. I don't want to make any comments. I don't care."
Safin, the quintessential outsider who has made his own unique way in the game, is more concerned with trying to recover the form which led him to US and Australian Open titles, the last against Roger Federer in 2005.
In the match that started the drama, Davydenko, ranked fifth in the world, withdrew mid-match with a foot injury at a tournament in Poland.
The ATP launched an investigation after online betting on the second-round contest was halted.
Davydenko quit in the third set with a foot injury. Online agency Betfair refused to pay out on the match, saying 3.4 million pounds, 10 times the norm for such a match, was wagered, much of it against defending champion Davydenko as he was winning the first set, as if betters knew he might not last to the finish.
Safin said it's not his problem: "The ATP can do whatever they want, I'm out of it. It's not my problem, that's for sure.
"I'm here more for myself than for the ATP. The ATP is full of people who get paid a lot of money, big bucks, and they're the ones who have to think, not me.
"I'm here to play my tennis, win some matches, and whatever happens happens. "I'm not going to make any comments. They have enough smart people to investigate and look for it, to do the right thing. I'm not the one to ask."
AFP
(China Daily 08/09/2007 page23)
