PARIS(AP) A French tennis player facing a five-week ban and $12,000 fine for betting on other matches complained Sunday at the French Open that the punishment is too harsh.
``There was no rule. I mean, there was a rule, but it was on the rulebook - page 136 in English - which is a very, very big book,'' Mathieu Montcourt said after reaching the second round at Roland Garros when his opponent, Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan, quit after the first set because of stomach problems.
``This is, for me, a very big penalty and very big fine and very big suspension,'' he said.
He said he bet no more than $3 on any match and lost a total of $36.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Montcourt wagered a total of $192 on 36 tennis events in 2005; the court reduced his suspension on appeal from eight weeks to five. The ban begins July 6, so he won't miss any Grand Slam action this year.
Montcourt was asked Sunday whether the difference was too large between his punishment and fellow French player Richard Gasquet's possible two-year suspension for allegedly testing positive for cocaine.
``There is no comparison between cocaine and what I did with the betting stuff,'' Montcourt said.
``They want to make examples with the betting, which means that even if you didn't commit a big thing, that they just want to make example. That's what they did with myself and with the doping, like cocaine. ... (With) cocaine, they never proved that there is an impact with the performance.''
The issue of betting in tennis drew increased attention from the sport's governing bodies after an online bookmaker voided all wagers on a 2007 match involving Nikolay Davydenko. About $7 million was bet - 10 times the usual amount for a similar-level match - and most of the money backed Davydenko's lower-ranked opponent. Davydenko was cleared in September after a yearlong investigation.