Coaches of the American Davis Cup squad Bob Bryan and Mardy Fish received four-month suspensions and $10,000 fines for using social media to advertise a gambling company.
Fish and Bryan fully cooperated with the inquiry and immediately deleted the problematic posts, according to the London-based International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which announced the penalties on Tuesday.
Coaches of the American Davis Cup team Bob Bryan and Mardy Fish each received a $10,000 penalties for using social media to advertise a gambling business. Coaches of the American Davis Cup team Bob Bryan and Mardy Fish each received a $10,000 penalties for using social media to advertise a gambling business.
Only if Fish or Bryan commit another infraction during their four-month probationary term, which started on November 11, will the bans be put into effect.
In an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Fish said, “Bob and I did a DraftKings promo at the US Open that we were unaware we weren’t permitted to do.” “I deleted the posts as soon as we learned and helped the ITIA,”
Fish, who has led the United States in the Davis Cup since 2019, and Bryan, who has been a coach and acted as captain this year while Fish was out with COVID-19, were “subject to the sport’s rules around relationships with betting operators,” the ITIA stated.
This season, the US lost to Italy in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, which was held in Malaga, Spain, last week. In the men’s international team tournament, the Americans have set a record of 32 victories, the most recent coming in 2007.
Anyone subject to the anti-corruption policy of the sport, as Fish and Bryan were when they were accredited to the U.S. team in 2022, is not permitted to “directly or indirectly facilitate, encourage and/or promote” tennis betting.
“The USTA is aware that Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan were fined by the ITIA. We fully stand behind Mardy and Bob.
Both parties, according to the ITIA, were unaware that their actions in any way violated protocol, and when they were informed, they promptly complied fully with the ITIA’s requests for the rest of the process “In a statement sent via email, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Tennis Association said.
“Mardy and Bob have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to representing and advancing U.S. tennis, and we are grateful for their continued dedication to expanding the sport nationwide.”
