Italian Starace banned for for ten years and life ban for Bracciali

Players found to have breached anti-corruption rules.

Italian tennis star Daniele Bracciali has been banned for life after the Tennis Integrity Unit found him guilty of match-fixing today.

And another player, Italian Potito Starace, who is retired from the sport, has been given a 10-year suspension for a similar offence.

Bracciali, a one-time top 50 ranked player, also received $250,000 fine and Starace $100,000.

The TIU stated both players were found guilty of two breaches of anti-corruption rules – one relating to “contriving the outcome of matches”, and the other “facilitating betting on matches”.

The incidents occurred at the ATP 500 World Tour tournament event in Barcelona, Spain in April 2011.

At that tournament Starace abandoned his first-round match against Daniel Gimeno-Traver early in the deciding set.

Bracciali, 40, is currently ranked 100th in doubles and reached a career-best of 21 in June 2012.

In 2015, Italian police brought charges based on intercepted phone and internet conversations.

In a phone call with an unnamed businessman, Bracciali allegedly discussed making 50,000 euros through deliberately losing sets.

Starace, 37, who was alleged to have accepted payments for losing to Pablo Andujar in Casablanca, retired earlier this year with a career-best ranking of 27. His highest doubles ranking was 40 in June 2012.

Under the sanctions, he is banned from attending any events organised or recognised by the governing bodies of the sport.

Both players were banned for life by the Italian Tennis Federation in 2015.

Starace then had his ban overturned and Bracciali’s was reduced to a year on appeal. Both men have the right of appeal through the Court of Arbitration for Sport.