1. #1
    bigboydan
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    ATP suspends Starace, Bracciali for bets

    Looks like Tennis is starting to crack the whip.

    ATP suspends Starace, Bracciali for bets

    ROME (AP) - The ATP has suspended top Italian player Potito Starace and countryman Daniele Bracciali for betting on tennis matches.

    The 31st-ranked Starace was suspended for six weeks and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, the Italian tennis federation said Saturday in a statement. Bracciali, ranked 258th, was banned for three months and fined $20,000. Both suspensions are effective Jan. 1.

    The Italian federation said Starace made five bets for a total of $130 two years ago, while Bracciali made some 50 bets of $7 each from 2004-05. It denounced the penalties as harsh, saying the players never bet on their own matches.

    "Injustice is done," the statement said. "These penalties are absolutely, excessively severe compared to the magnitude of the violations carried out by the two players."

    The federation said the two were not aware of the ATP's betting regulations, and that they stopped placing the bets as soon as they learned it was against the rules.

    Another Italian, Alessio Di Mauro, became the first player sanctioned under the ATP's new anti-corruption rules when he received a nine-month ban in November, also for betting on matches.

    Starace and Bracciali said they were scapegoats for a larger match-fixing scandal.

    "It's disgusting," said the 26-year-old Starace. "The ATP doesn't know where to turn. It's all a joke."

    Bracciali said the two had been "sacrificed."

    "That's why they came after us," the 29-year-old said. "We are not champions and we don't count in the upper echelons."

    ATP officials could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

    Concerns about match-fixing have risen since August, when an online betting company reported unusual betting patterns during a match between fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina. The company, Betfair, voided all bets and the ATP has been investigating.

    Davydenko, who retired while trailing in the third set, denies wrongdoing.

    Since then, several players have said that they had been approached with offers to fix matches in exchange for money.

  2. #2
    jon13009
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    I guess the ATP has to show how serious they are about stopping gambling's influence on the players. I think it means that:

    1. Players will have to be more careful about their betting habits.

    2. Players who are going to fix a match will have to be more resourceful in how the lose.

    While these tennis players think their suspensions are harsh, I can only imagine what MLB or the NBA would do to current players who bet on their respective sports in this day and age.

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