US Davis Cup Captains Mardy Fish & Bob Bryan fined and handed suspended bans for promoting gambling

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United States Davis Cup duo fined and handed suspended bans for promoting gambling
Tennis365 / by Shahida Jacobs / November 30, 2022 at 08:09PM

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United States Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish and coach Bob Bryan have been hit with fines and suspended bans after they breached the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) betting sponsorship rules.

Former world No 7 Fish and former men’s doubles world No 1 and 23-time Grand Slam doubles champion Bryan promoted a gambling operator on social media during this year’s US Open, which goes against tennis’ anti-corruption rules.

Although they are not current tennis players, the pair is considered “covered persons” as they are part of the United States Davis Cup squad and are not allowed to directly or indirectly promote or encourage others to bet on tennis.

The ITIA confirmed that “both individuals co-operated fully with the ITIA investigation and removed the posts immediately”, but the pair was fined $10,000 each and also received suspended four-month bans for breaching the sport’s betting sponsorship rules.

A statement on the ITIA website read: “The suspensions do not come into force unless there is a further breach during the four-month period, which started on 11 November 2022.

“Both had been accredited as part of the US Davis Cup coaching team in 2022, meaning they are considered ‘covered persons’ and subject to the sport’s rules around relationships with betting operators. Fish and Bryan have also agreed to work with the ITIA to assist with education and prevention initiatives to highlight the importance of integrity in the game.”

The US Tennis Association (USTA) gave their full backing to Fish – who has been US Davis Cup captain since January 2019 – and Bryan, stating the pair was unaware that they breached any protocols.

“The USTA is aware of the ITIA’s fines of Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan. Both Mardy and Bob have our full support,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “

“As was stated by the ITIA, neither was aware that their actions were in any way a violation of protocols, and when they were made aware immediately and fully cooperated with the ITIA throughout the remainder of the process."

“Mardy and Bob have given so much of their lives to representing and supporting US tennis and we are thankful for their ongoing commitment to growing the game throughout the country.”

Fish and the United States were knocked out of the Davis Cup in the quarter-finals in Malaga, Spain, last week, as the 32-time winners went down 2-1 against Italy.

 
What in the ****ing hell is an international tennis integrity association

How many of these convoluted groups exist that people don't even know about or agreed to any terms with

Man it must suck to be a public figure in any realm today when you aren't allowed to even say anything without someone scrutinizing every single syllable you say
 
Oh how the mighty have fallen. The US once had DC teams with 33 slams among their players:


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Ram must have friends in high places :happydevil:
Fish & Bob's gambling promotion activity happened during US Open though. Ram omission in Davis Cup team only happened recently. I wonder if they deliberately omitted Ram from the team in order to influence the gambling outcome?
 
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Fish & Bob's gambling promotion activity happened during US Open though. Ram omission in Davis Cup team only happened recently. I wonder if they deliberately omitted Ram from the team in order to influence the gambling outcome?

Something odd is going on. This is a very bad look
 
Opelka and Fritz bemused with ITF suspension for Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan: "Tennis is stuck in the 1950's!"

30/11/2022 14:30 | by Alem Mujkanovic

Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan were fined for promoting a betting website on social media and Fritz and Opelka reacted to it.

Both former players were part of the American Davis Cup team in a coaching rule which opened them up for this suspension. The International Tennis Integrity Agency issued a 10.000 dollar fine for both players and bans of four months after they mentioned a betting platform on Twitter and that's against the rules.

Fritz reacted to it on social media:

"Huh?!?! So tennis channel (and many others) can run special segments for draft kings, but as a coach you aren’t allowed to legally sports bet on another sport that has nothing to do with tennis ????"

Opelka also reacted:

"Tennis is stuck in the 1950s!"



 
Jimmy Connors slams the ITIA over Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan suspensions

Tennis365 / by James Richardson / December 04, 2022 at 04:16PM

Jimmy Connors feels that it is time for tennis to relax its restrictions on players having commercial relationships with the sports betting industry.

Earlier this week, US Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish and erstwhile doubles specialist Bob Bryan were given suspended bans and fined for promoting a gambling company on social media.

While neither man is an active player they are both part of the coaching team for the US Davis Cup team which makes them subject to International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) rules.

The ITIA prohibits all ‘covered persons’ – extending beyond players to support staff – from ‘promoting, facilitating or encouraging gambling on tennis’.

“Both individuals co-operated fully with the ITIA investigation and removed the posts immediately,” an ITIA sanction notice read.
“The suspensions do not come into force unless there is a further breach during the four-month period, which started on 11 November 2022.

“Both had been accredited as part of the US Davis Cup coaching team in 2022, meaning they are considered “covered persons” and subject to the sport’s rules around relationships with betting operators.”

Fish and Bryan were handed suspended four-month bans pending any further breaches and fined $10,000 each.

“Fish and Bryan have also agreed to work with the ITIA to assist with education and prevention initiatives to highlight the importance of integrity in the game,” the ITIA adds.

Connors feels that tennis doesn’t need to discourage gambling on the sport and should embrace the potential earnings to be made from establishing commercial relationships with sportsbooks.

“So what’s the bad thing? Do they wanna go back to the dark ages?,” said Connors.
“That (betting) just brings people more involved and get them more interested you know, what is going on with the players, who is the best, how they compete and so forth.”

“Tennis has been my life, but the excitement of being a basketball fan or baseball fan or football fan, the excitement of bringing that (betting) and being able to get more involved. I wanna watch tennis anyway but what’s gonna make me more involved and to be more part of it?” added Connors.

Connors has admitted that his gambling addiction cost him millions.

The former World No 1 has also confessed to betting on tennis while he was a player, including putting money on his own matches.
However, Connors insists that he always bet on himself to win.

While Connors has given up the habit with the help of his wife but he still believes that gambling and sport can mix.


 
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