Introduction
Potito Starace (Italian pronunciation: [poˈtiːto staˈraːtʃe]; born 14 July 1981) is an Italian former 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.
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.
In 2015, the Italian Tennis Federation banned Bracciali and Starace for life. In 2019, he was banned by the Tennis Integrity Unit for life, subject to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
ATP career finals
Singles: 4 (0–4)
| Titles by surface |
|---|
| Winner – Legend |
| Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–1) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–3) |
| Titles by surface |
| Hard (0–0) |
| Clay (0–4) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–1) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–3) |
| Hard (0–0) |
| Clay (0–4) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| 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)
| Titles by surface |
|---|
| Winner – Legend |
| Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (2–2) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (4–1) |
| Titles by surface |
| Hard (2–0) |
| Clay (4–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (2–2) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (4–1) |
| Hard (2–0) |
| Clay (4–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0–1 | Mar 2006 | Acapulco, Mexico | Clay | Filippo Volandri | František Čermák Leoš Friedl | 5–7, 2–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | Mar 2007 | Acapulco, Mexico | Clay | Martín Vassallo Argüello | Lukáš Dlouhý Pavel Vízner | 6–0, 6–2 |
| Win | 2–1 | Jul 2007 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Clay | Luis Horna | Tomas Behrend Christopher Kas | 7–6, 7–6 |
| Win | 3–1 | Oct 2008 | Moscow, Russia | Hard (i) | Sergiy Stakhovsky | Stephen Huss Ross Hutchins | 7–6, 2–6, [10–6] |
| Loss | 3–2 | Feb 2010 | Santiago, Chile | Clay | Horacio Zeballos | Łukasz Kubot Oliver Marach | 4–6, 0–6 |
| Loss | 3–3 | Feb 2010 | Acapulco, Mexico | Clay | Fabio Fognini | Łukasz 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, 7–6 |
| 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
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Singles
Current through 2015 French Open.
| Tournament | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | W–L | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | Q1 | Q3 | A | 0–7 | |||
| French Open | 3R | A | 1R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | Q1 | 6–9 | |||
| Wimbledon | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | 1–9 | |||
| US Open | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | A | A | A | 2–8 | |||
| Win–loss | 3–3 | 0–3 | 0–4 | 2–4 | 0–3 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 9–33 | |||
| Olympic Games | ||||||||||||||||
| Summer Olympics | A | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | A | Not Held | 0–1 | |||||||||
| ATP Masters Series | ||||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | 1R | A | Q1 | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | 1–6 | |||
| Miami Masters | A | 1R | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | 1–7 | |||
| Monte Carlo Masters | A | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | Q1 | A | 1R | 2R | A | Q2 | A | 2–5 | |||
| Rome Masters | A | 2R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 2R | A | A | 9–9 | |||
| Madrid Masters | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | 1R | Q1 | A | A | A | 0–2 | |||
| Canada Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||||
| Cincinnati Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||||
| Shanghai Masters | Not Masters Series | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||||||||
| Paris Masters | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | 0–2 | ||||
| Hamburg Masters | A | A | A | A | 2R | Not Masters Series | 1–1 | |||||||||
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 3–4 | 2–5 | 1–3 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 14–32 | |||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||
| Titles–Finals | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | |||
| Year-end ranking | 76 | 105 | 83 | 31 | 72 | 62 | 47 | 58 | 164 | 152 | 163 | |||||
Doubles
Current through 2013 Wimbledon Championships.
| Tournament | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | W–L | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||
| Australian Open | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 7–7 | ||
| French Open | QF | 1R | 1R | A | 3R | QF | SF | 2R | 13–7 | ||
| Wimbledon | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | 1–6 | ||
| US Open | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 3R | A | A | 4–6 | ||
| Win–loss | 4–4 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 4–4 | 7–4 | 6–2 | 2–3 | 26–26 | ||
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.
| Season | 2004 | 2005 | Total |
| Wins | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| # | Player | Rank | Event | Surface | Rd | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | ||||||
| 1. | Sébastien Grosjean | 10 | Roland Garros, Paris, France | Clay | 2R | 7–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
| 2005 | ||||||
| 2. | Carlos Moyá | 8 | Rome, Italy | Clay | 1R | 6–4, 7–6 |