Thread by @BenRothenberg

With rain ending today's play prematurely, figured I'd do a brief thread on the match-fixing allegations against surprise French Open semifinalist Marco Cecchinato, which don't seem to be widely understood.

(I wrote about Cecchinato's case for @NYTSports back in 2016, shortly after he was given an 18 month ban and fined 40,000 euros by the Federation of Italian Tennis (FIT) for his involvement in three betting-related offenses.

nytimes.com/2016/07/25/spo…

The main charge revolved around a 2015 match at the Mohammedia, Morocco Challenger.

In a series of WhatsApp messages, Cecchinato had bemoaned to his friend Riccardo Accardi that he'd lost money betting on Italian soccer game.

He suggested that he knew how to recoup the losses.

Cecchinato implied to Accardi that he hoped he would be drawn against a low-ranked Moroccan wildcard at his upcoming tournament in Mohammedia, which would be deemed a mismatch by oddsmakers and could thus present an opportunity for significant earnings.

Cecchinato faced no Moroccans, but was a clear favorite in his quarterfinal against a qualifier ranked 338th, Kamil Majchrzak.

Using dozens of accounts across various betting sites, Accardi and his father placed large bets on Cecchinato to lose in straight sets. Odds were 7-1.

Cecchinato did indeed lose to Majchrzak in straight sets, as his friend's money was confident he would.

Cecchinato had also had booked himself a flight home before the match began, which didn't ease anyone's suspicions.

These wagers were so unusual that they tripped off the the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies, which regulates gambling in Italy.

Though Cecchinato deleted the exchanges, they found the incriminating WhatsApp messages on Accardi's phone.

The Italian authorities, which have been some of the most proactive in the world against match fixing (see also Starace, Bracciali), banned Cecchinato for 18 months and fined him 40,000 euros.

Accardi and a third person were also punished.

Cecchinato appealed the decision. And in an incredibly lucky break for him, the Italian federation missed a deadline during the appeals process, which led to his case being dropped.

Cecchinato was not exonerated whatsoever; he ultimately got off on a technicality.

And so Cecchinato is back on tour, and is now playing incredible, electrifying, Djokovic-beating tennis to reach the final four at Roland Garros. He's two wins from a Grand Slam title.

But it's not clear that he's out of the woods. It's possible TIU is still investigating him.

TIU's big recent conviction of Nicolas Kicker also originated from incidents in 2015.

Cecchinato's suspect match was a month after one of Kicker's, so if the Cecchinato case is similarly backlogged, it's possible it's still pending.

TIU, as per, won't confirm either way.

Cecchinato consistently refuses to talk about any details/status of his case, including here.

When I asked him about it at Wimbledon last year, he walked out of the room (ATP eventually wrangled him back in there so he could do the Italian portion of his media obligations).

That's all. With the sport spending millions in recent years to determine how best to combat match fixing, Cecchinato's history is an unfortunate shadow behind his incredible run.

If you followed this thread, here’s an update for @NYTSports on what’s happened in Cecchinato’s case, with a few more procedural details of how his penalty was reduced and then dropped due to mistrial.

nytimes.com/2018/06/08/spo…