The ATP suspended Italians Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali on Saturday for making bets — some as little as $7 — on tennis matches involving other players.
The Italian tennis federation denounced the penalties by the governing body as an "injustice" and the players said they have been made scapegoats.
Italy's Potito Starace is the world's 31st-ranked men's tennis player.
(Dmitry Lovetsky/ Associated Press)
Starace, ranked 31st, was suspended for six weeks and fined $30,000, the Italian federation said. Bracciali, ranked 258th, was banned for three months and fined $20,000. Both suspensions take effect Jan. 1.
The federation said Starace made five bets for a total of $130 two years ago, and Bracciali made about 50 bets of $7 each from 2004-05.
"Injustice is done," the Italian federation's 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 they stopped placing bets as soon as they learned it was against the rules.
"It's disgusting," Starace said. "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," he said. "We are not champions and we don't count in the upper echelons."
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.
ATP officials could not be reached for comment 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 quit while trailing in the third set, denies wrongdoing.
Since then, several players have said they were approached with offers to fix matches for money.
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