ROME, Sept 12: Four Italian tennis players banned for betting on matches intend to sue the ATP Tour for violation of privacy over its handling of their cases, one of the players has said.

The ATP handed Potito Starace, Daniele Bracciali, Federico Luzzi and Giorgio Galimberti bans ranging from six weeks to 200 days between December 2007 and February this year.

“A Miami law studio will defend us for violation of privacy,” Galimberti said in an interview in Friday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, adding that the four would also sue the betting agency that gave the ATP the information about their wagers.“The site on which we bet a few euros didn’t have the right to reveal that data because it was prior to the agreement made with the various sporting associations,” he stated.

“And the ATP was not allowed to make public other information, like the bets on football and other sports. We’ll go all the way to the highest court.”

Another Italian player Alessio di Mauro, who was banned for nine months for betting in November, is not taking part in the legal action, Galimberti said.

The ATP were not immediately available for comment.

Corruption has been high on the ATP’s agenda following an investigation last year prompted by irregular betting patterns in a match between Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland. Both players have denied any wrongdoing.

However, several players have since said they had turned down offers to throw a match in exchange for money.The ATP’s Anti-Corruption Programme prohibits players and their entourage from betting on any form of tennis.—Reuters