Raul Brancaccio: “Illegal betting kills tennis: insults and threats just to make me lose”

This was a gentleman’s sport. On the pitch and in the stands. I use the past tense after what happened to me. And not just me. I shout it out loud: the betting plague is ruining tennis too. We can’t go on like this, we just can’t. And we players are exposed, defenseless.”

The voice of Raul Brancaccio, a 26-year-old tennis player with a best ranking of 121st in the world, who after a colorless season (today he is 321st) is trying to climb back up towards the coveted top 100 betrays both anger and pain. He had a terrible experience, “and the defeat with the seven missed match points had nothing to do with it.” What upset the tennis player from Torre del Greco was what happened in the stands in the first round of the $125,000 ATP challenger tournament being played at Tc Napoli.

«A flood of threatening insults, unrepeatable words, chaotic screams at every point. And everything against me. In Naples, practically in my house, I immediately understood what was happening. It was hell, I’m not exaggerating.” This is why Brancaccio decided to write a fiery post on his social profile where we read, among other things, the key to all this: “I wanted to dedicate this post to all those people who yesterday were rooting, almost like a stadium, against me . Ignorant, useless and shameful people (all in capital letters, ed.) who ruin such a beautiful sport just to win bets and bills. I call upon all of you to examine your conscience, for the good of sport and for the respect of all the players who offer a spectacle worthy of applause.” With Repubblica the player from Campania tells what happened and goes further in a clear denunciation of a phenomenon “that must be addressed now, before everything goes to waste”.

Let’s rewind the tape, Brancaccio: you are playing against the Frenchman Pierre Hugues Herbert, a talented player who in the past also reached 36th position in the ATP rankings when…

«All hell breaks loose because I’m getting back into shape and my tennis is working again so, against predictions, I’m on my way to an important and unexpected victory. The blows flow, my opponent is in clear difficulty. As I make important points, a small but irrepressible part of the audience turns against me. It becomes difficult to concentrate, my ears hear unpronounceable terms, they do everything to make me lose rhythm and concentration. A shame, unacceptable and apparently inexplicable. But only apparently.”

Because she gave herself a very clear explanation…

«There is only one reason: someone had bet money on the French tennis player (which, I want to clarify, has absolutely nothing to do with all this) and couldn’t believe he was losing it considering that I was one point away from success for seven times. And who knows what numbers they turned around… they were willing to do anything to see me lose. How infinitely sad. Not the defeat, I repeat, but everything else… What happened to me remains incredible, incredible is an understatement. But be careful, such a vulgar demonstration is only the tip of the iceberg…”.

What it means?

«That today was my turn in Naples. Tomorrow it will be the turn of a colleague from another part of the world. I mean what happens, it happened and it will happen again.”

In short, these people are everywhere and try to pollute tennis, according to him.

“Yes, but it’s even worse.”

Worse?

«I can say without fear of contradiction that we tennis players are tired of receiving threats every day because of these people who bet on the game, on the point, on the result, on the score, on the serve, on the games, on the number of points scored in a set , on the total one, on everything in short and he does it practically live while watching the race in progress in the stands, with cell phones, which is absolutely forbidden. It can’t be done but instead it is done. This is a sport for gentlemen so it becomes something else, I have to repeat myself.”

How do threats arrive?

«On social media. Whether you win or lose, it doesn’t change. It depends on whether they bet on your success or defeat. Death threats, even to family members and this for me is unbearable, intolerable and unheard of.”

Did you report the threats?

“Of course, we all report them but nothing happens, also because they all hide behind nicknames and I imagine it will take a long and in-depth investigation to ferret them out.”

What reactions did you have after your post?

«Lots and lots of solidarity».

In particular?

«I was very pleased with Matteo Berrettini’s message. He consoled me for the defeat by writing to me that he also failed to take advantage of 12 match points and invited me to move forward and not pay attention to those people who shouted at me because it has nothing to do with tennis. But the ATP must move.”

Come?

«The ATP must start carrying out strict checks during matches aimed at finding out who is betting live, it must send around qualified personnel ready to intervene and chase these people out of the stands and clubs. Enough, this crap has to stop.”