Is tennis pro Darko Grncarov known to you? If not, that speaks for you: For Darko, the good one, has fooled everyone.
Darko Grncarov has become quite famous in recent months: he survived a six-month coma after a stroke. He had prominent Twitter followers with Serena Williams, the ATP and WTA tour. He was critical of Tenny’s Sandgren and Margaret Court and promised not to play against Novak Djokovic at the Margaret Court Arena. He picked up congratulations from Martina Navratilova. He gave the BBC an interview. He had more than 200 fan accounts on Twitter. He gave several times to record, soon to run up at the big tournaments and thanked for the wildcards. He gave tennis media interviews on his comeback. He was contacted by Adidas about how nice it is that he belongs to her family. He put videos of himself on the net and a personal message from Serena Williams.
The problem: Darko Grncarov doesn’t exist – at least not as a professional tennis player. His official record: a 0:6,0:6 as junior against an unsuccessful junior player and a walkover, i. e. a non-runner in the men’s singles.
US tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg (among others New York Times) has put together a crazy story for the website slate. com about “tennis pro” Darko Grncarov. Especially worth reading in times of fake news!
A Macedonian Tennis Racket – How a 20-year-old from the land of fake news tricked Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, and the BBC.