Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan were fined $10,000 each and issued with suspended bans of four months for promoting a gambling operator over social media.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) stated on Tuesday that the two former players, who were part of the US Davis Cup coaching team, had breached tennis’ betting sponsorship rules.
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According to the ITIA, Fish and Bryan cooperated fully with its investigation and removed the problematic posts immediately.
The suspensions do not come into force unless there is a further breach during the four-month period, which started on 11 November 2022.
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“Bob and I did a DraftKings promo during the U.S. Open that we were unaware we weren’t allowed to do,” Fish wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“As soon as we found out, I deleted the posts and cooperated with the ITIA.”
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Fish has been the US Davis Cup captain since 2019, and Bryan, who has been a coach, served as an acting captain this year when Fish was sidelined with the virus.
As they were accredited as part of the US Davis Cup coaching team in 2022, they are considered “covered persons” and subject to the sport’s rules.
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“No Covered Person shall directly or indirectly, facilitate, encourage and/or promote Tennis Betting (‘Facilitation’),” states Section D.1.b of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP) rules.
Fish and Bryan have also agreed to work with the ITIA to assist with education and prevention initiatives to highlight the importance of integrity in the game.
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