ATP bans Montcourt for betting
2008-08-08 22:12
Paris - French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt was banned for eight weeks and fined $12 000 dollars on Friday for betting on matches, the ATP tour said.
An ATP inquiry found Montcourt, ranked 158th, had betted on matches which he had not taken part in between June and November 2005 which was against their rules.
ATP added that its investigation had found no evidence to suggest Montcourt had tried to rig the results.
Last month Czech player Frantisek Cermak and Slovak Michal Mertinak (616th) were fined and banned for a similar offense.
A recent report into betting in the sport found irregularities in 45 matches played in the last five years, with its authors urging tennis's three ruling bodies (ATP, WTA and ITF) to implement radical change.