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Potito Starace

Country (sports)	Italy
Residence	Cervinara, Italy
Born	(1981-07-14) 14 July 1981 (age 41) Cervinara, Italy
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro	2001
Retired	2015
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$3,784,550
Singles
Career record	162-193
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 27 (15 October 2007)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
French Open	3R (2004, 2007)
Wimbledon	2R (2009)
US Open	2R (2004, 2011)
Doubles
Career record	110-114
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 40 (18 June 2012)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2011, 2012)
French Open	SF (2012)
Wimbledon	2R (2006)
US Open	3R (2011)
Last updated on: 15 March 2016.

Starace at the 2008 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament.

Potito Starace (Italian pronunciation: [po'ti:to sta'ra:t?e];^[1][2] born 14 July 1981) is an Italian retired professional tennis player on the ATP Tour. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world no. 27 on October 15, 2007. He was a clay court specialist, and was coached by Umberto Rianna.

Starace was banned from tennis for life by the Italian Tennis Federation and by the Tennis Integrity Unit for betting offences.

Career

One of the most memorable runs of Starace's career was when he made the men's doubles semifinals of the 2012 French Open, partnering Daniele Bracciali, before succumbing to top seeds Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi.

In singles, he made four ATP finals but lost in all of them. On the Challenger tour, he won the San Marino CEPU Open three times, a record for the tournament, and the Tennis Napoli Cup four times, also a record. Its also noticed the match at the tennis club Napoli against the well known couple called "cugini di campagna",where potito and his friend Volandri lost and after this retired from the professional career. In doubles, he won six ATP titles.

He represented Italy at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he lost to eventual gold medallist Rafael Nadal in the first round.^[3]

Betting scandal

Following Alessio di Mauro's 9-month ban in November 2007, Starace and Daniele Bracciali were each fined and given short suspensions from playing. Starace received a fine of £21,400 and a 6-week ban from January 1, 2008.

Starace's case revolved around his final in Casablanca against the Spaniard Pablo Andújar, which the Italian lost. Starace had led their head-to-head 5-0 going into the match. Bookmaker Massimo Erodiani asked via Skype if Starace had received a certified cheque to lose the match and received an affirmative answer, explaining that all bets were safe on a Starace loss.^[4]

In 2015, the Italian Tennis Federation banned Bracciali and Starace for life.^[5] In 2019, he was banned by the Tennis Integrity Unit for life, subject to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.^[6]

ATP career finals

Singles: 4 (0-4)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0-1	Apr 2007	Valencia, Spain	Clay	Nicolás Almagro	6-4, 2-6, 1-6
Loss	0-2	Jul 2007	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Juan Mónaco	7-5, 3-6, 4-6
Loss	0-3	Aug 2010	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	4-6, 4-6
Loss	0-4	Apr 2011	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Pablo Andújar	1-6, 2-6

Doubles: 9 (6-3)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0-1	Mar 2006	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Filippo Volandri	Franti?ek ?ermák Leo? Friedl	5-7, 2-6
Win	1-1	Mar 2007	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Martín Vassallo Argüello	Luká? Dlouhý Pavel Vízner	6-0, 6-2
Win	2-1	Jul 2007	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Luis Horna	Tomas Behrend Christopher Kas	7-6(7-4), 7-6(7-5)
Win	3-1	Oct 2008	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Sergiy Stakhovsky	Stephen Huss Ross Hutchins	7-6(7-4), 2-6, [10-6]
Loss	3-2	Feb 2010	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Horacio Zeballos	?ukasz Kubot Oliver Marach	4-6, 0-6
Loss	3-3	Feb 2010	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Fabio Fognini	?ukasz Kubot Oliver Marach	0-6, 0-6
Win	4-3	Oct 2010	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	Daniele Bracciali	Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	7-6(8-6), 7-6(7-5)
Win	5-3	Sep 2011	Bucarest, Romania	Clay	Daniele Bracciali	Julian Knowle David Marrero	3-6, 6-4, [10-8]
Win	6-3	Feb 2013	Viña del Mar, Chile	Clay	Paolo Lorenzi	Juan Mónaco Rafael Nadal	6-2, 6-4

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through 2015 French Open.

Doubles

Current through 2013 Wimbledon Championships.

Top 10 wins

• Starace has a 2-23 (.080) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score
2004
1.	Sébastien Grosjean	10	Roland Garros, Paris, France	Clay	2R	7-6(8-6), 6-3, 6-4
2005
2.	Carlos Moyá	8	Rome, Italy	Clay	1R	6-4, 7-6(9-7)

References

External links

• Potito Starace at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Potito Starace at the International Tennis Federation
• Potito Starace at the Davis Cup
• Potito Starace at Olympedia