Tarpischev, President of the Russian Tennis Federation and a member of the IOC since 1994, has criticised the BBC, co-authors of the report with Buzzfeed, for failing to provide evidence to back up their claims.

The investigation claimed that 16 players, ranked in the top 50 in the world across the past decade, have been repeatedly flagged as having potentially thrown matches.

They alleged that the players were allowed to continue competing, despite suspicions having been reported to the Tennis Integrity Unit, joint initiative of the Grand Slam Board, the International Tennis Federation, the ATP World Tour and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). 

The investigation, which focuses on men’s tennis, is centred on leaked documents from the sport while analysis of betting activity on 26,000 matches has been carried out.

Following the publication of the report,  world number one Novak Djokovic claimed in 2007 he had been offered $200,000 (£140,000/€184,000) to throw a first round tie at the tournament at the St. Petersburg Open. 

Tarpischev, coach of Russia's Davis Cup team for most of the last 42 years, the dismissed the allegations, however. 

"There is nothing behind these accusations," he told Russian news agency TASS. 

"This is just this Corporation’s self-advertising, which for some reason involves all of us.

"There were accusations, but they should be followed by evidence.

"But we have not seen it.

"If there is evidence, come up with it.

"But we hear only empty talk.

"They recalled 2007 and 2008.

"The whole story faded away back then, it led nowhere and now came to the fore all of a sudden."

Tarpischev, chairman of the Kremlin Cup, Russia's top tournament, does not believe the BBC and Buzzfeed report is even worth investigating. 

"The question is why and who stands to gain from this," he said. 

"I am sure this is just self-advertising, to which we should not respond in any way."

With Russia's athletes currently banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations following allegations of state-supported doping, there will be unease within the IOC that Tarpischev has so easily dismissed these latest claims.

He has ruled out the possibility that any top player could be influenced to be involved in match-fixing.

"They just have no need to do that," Tarpischev said.

It is not the first time Tarpischev  has courted controversy.

In 2014 he narrowly escaped being investigated by the IOC Ethics Commission after referring to Serena and Venus Williams as the "Williams brothers" during a television show in Russia.

The WTA banned Tarpischev for a year and fined him $25,000 (£15,500/€23,000-) following the incident. 

Tarpischev, though, claimed the comment was taken out of context and not intended as an insult, implying the subsequent reaction may have been deliberate and politically motivated. 

He threatened to launch a lawsuit in the United States to clear his name but nothing ever came of it.