BUENOS AIRES.- The Argentine tennis player Hernan Casanovanumber 397 in the ranking of the ATPwas suspended for two months by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for placing sports bets and failing to report attempted match-fixing.
The ITIA sanction comes less than a week after the tournament final Challenger 125 from Rosario, Argentinawhere the premises Roman Burruchaga and spanish Nikolas Sánchez Izquierdo They reported death threats allegedly from gamblers to make them lose their games.
“I’m going to be suspended for two months,” Casanova wrote on his Instagram account on Friday, where he defended himself by saying that he made “two mistakes” for “not knowing exactly the rules.”
The 32-year-old player, who in 2022 reached his best position in the world ranking, 221, admitted to having bet “for fun” on numerous matches in competitions in which he did not participate between 2023 and 2025, a violation of the Anti-Corruption Program in Tennis (TACP) of the ITIA.
Nor did he report an approach with the apparent intention of “match-fixing,” Casanova acknowledged. “I clearly accepted my mistake and suspension,” he said.
The tennis player must also pay a fine of $500 and will not be able to play, train or enter any tournament until April 3.
“It’s going to be a difficult two months (…) I want to share this so that the kids who are just entering the professional world read and become well informed about the anti-corruption program because the slightest error pays off,” Casanova added.
His last match was a 1-6, 0-2 loss and abandonment against the Taiwanese Chun-Hsin Tseng in the first round of the Rosario Challenger.
Alert in the tournament
The Argentine competition was marked by the shadow of bettors.
Burruchaga revealed on Tuesday that he was threatened before playing the semifinals with Tseng. Despite this, the local team won and reached the final.
In the same event, the Spanish Sánchez Izquierdo received threats from an alleged illegal betting network minutes before his second round match against the Argentine Valerio Aboianagainst whom he lost in two sets.
