Italians Banned Over Old Bets
Watch out, the big and scary governing body of the ATP is cracking down on the betting and match-fixing scandal plaguing tennis in recent months.
Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali were suspended for six weeks and three months, respectively. Both suspensions will begin at the first of the year. Starace’s bets were made two years ago and totaled about 90 euros. Bracciali made about 50 bets of five euros each in 2004 and 2005.
Surprise, surprise - both players feel they are the sacrifical lambs for the bigger match-fixing issues out there.
Starace, Italy’s highest ranked player in 31st place, said, “I decided to make a deal, because with this Damoclean sword hanging over my head I would certainly never have been able to play well in the Australian Open.”
Whoa, wait. Starace made a deal? That makes it sound like he had an option. What is this - a bad western movie? “Either you hang or we shoot you; pick your poison.”
Riiiight.
But the Italian Tennis Federation made a strong statement about its players being sent to the chopping block. “The ATP must have known about these bets for years but they have only struck now to show that they are in some way handling this scandal.”
And the conspiracy theory continues.
Tags: suspension, tennis-bettingRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Tennis Scandal
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