Atp Organization

MONTREAL -- Players on the men's tennis tour have been the targets of anonymous phone calls in which they were asked to try to influence the outcome of matches, according to doubles star Bob Bryan, a member of the ATP Player Council. "I don't know of any players that have ever gambled on tennis," he said Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, a Masters Series tournament. "But there have been some anonymous calls to players' rooms with some monetary offerings. "I know that.

MONTREAL -- In light of the ATP Tour's probe of a Nikolay Davydenko match and doubles star Bob Bryan's revelation that players on the men's tour have received anonymous calls offering money in exchange for influencing matches, Las Vegas sports books will place tennis bets "under a thicker microscope," one prominent race and sports book director said.

NEW YORK -- The ATP Tour's investigation into suspicious betting patterns involving a Nikolay Davydenko match this month in Poland will take "months rather than weeks," according to an official. "It's going to take time. We are determined to leave no stone unturned," said ATP spokesman Kris Dent on Saturday. His comments came as a mandatory player meeting was getting started at the final Grand Slam event of the season, the U.S. Open, which starts Monday.

LONDON -- One disquieting subject, four governing bodies and one potentially lurid dossier make for one momentous tennis meeting today in southwest London. The subject is alleged match-fixing, a topic blaring since August but cresting this week after some comments 18th-ranked Andy Murray of Scotland made to BBC Radio.

Apparently, the suits and ties that run tennis are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore. How else could we interpret their recent jaw-dropping suspension of the No. 124-ranked player on the men's ATP tour? Get these guys really riled up and they might just get tough with No. 123. For the next nine months, tennis fans will have to do without any matches involving Alessio Di Mauro of Italy.

ROME -- The ATP suspended Italians Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali on Saturday for making bets -- some as little as $7 -- on tennis matches involving other players. The Italian tennis federation denounced the penalties by the governing body as an "injustice," and the players said they have been made scapegoats. Starace, ranked 31st, was suspended for six weeks and fined $30,000, the Italian federation said. Bracciali, ranked 258th, was banned for three months and fined $20,000.

In the first steps of a bid to increase tennis' appeal, the ATP is making changes to some tournaments on the 2007 men's tour, including using a round-robin format, starting events on Sundays rather than Mondays and reducing the number of best-of-five-set finals. The initiatives announced Sunday also include the first widespread prize money increase since 2000, a 10% hike at events currently at the minimum purse level.

Revelation of a drug probe involving another Argentine tennis player came to light when No. 8-ranked Guillermo Canas told the newspaper La Nacion that he is under investigation by the ATP. Canas has withdrawn from the upcoming Davis Cup quarterfinal against host Australia in July. Canas, who reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, did not play Wimbledon because of an undisclosed injury. An ATP official declined to comment at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

French Open quarterfinalist Guillermo Canas of Argentina was hit with a two-year suspension Monday by the ATP for testing positive for a prohibited diuretic. Diuretics are banned in and out of competition as possible masking agents. Canas is the fourth Argentine on the men's tennis tour in recent years to be suspended for a banned substance, but his penalty was far more harsh than the ones handed to Juan Ignacio Chela, Mariano Puerta and Guillermo Coria.

ATP TOUR RANKINGS 1. Roger Federer, Switzerland...6,500 2. Rafael Nadal, Spain...4,030 3. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia...3,455 4. Marat Safin, Russia...3,175 5. Andy Roddick, U.S....3,175 6. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia...2,115 7. Andre Agassi, U.S....1,915 8. Gaston Gaudio, Argentina...1,875 9. Guillermo Coria, Argentina...1,745 10. Guillermo Canas, Argentina...1,665 11. Mariano Puerta, Argentina...1,652 12. David Nalbandian, Argentina...1,650 13. Tim Henman, Britain...1,510 14.