First players have arrived to Country Club of Cortina (Italy) and among these there is also Marco Cecchinato. The Italian player will play the Cortina challenger next week, even if he got banned by Italian Tennis Federation for 18 months, which means until January 2018 because of match-fixing.



In theory, the Italian can play that event: he has been banned by Italian federation, but ATP has still not validated the ban, and the tournament is played at international level and is in the ATP Challenger Tour. However, Cortina Club is connected to the Federation, that can complain with him for being in a tournament owned by them.

Cecchinato would have fixed the match against the 338th ranked Kamil Majchrzak at the Mohammedia Challenger, in Morocco, on 8th October 2015. Cecchinato lost that match 6-1 6-4, but had placed many bets via a friend's account and went on to earn €800 for each bet. The same year, Cecchinato had also placed bets on fellow Italian Andreas Seppi’s match against John Isner at the French Open. Cecchinato, who knew that Seppi wasn’t fit, had told his friend and fellow tennis player, Riccardo Accardi that he couldn’t win and Accardi had then placed several bets on Isner winning in straight sets, which is what happened eventually.

We will see how the case evolves, maybe important news will come by Cecchinato if he decides to speak to the press.