Amidst the fun and games of this sun-splashed US Open we should spare a moment to remember two young men who might have been playing here had they not died far too young.

Federico Luzzi of Italy died suddenly from a virulent form of leukemia in 2008 while Frenchman Mathieu Montcourt collapsed and died from apparent heart failure earlier this summer after he had competed at Roland Garros.

Both these deaths are tragic but, to make it worse, by some strange and awful co-incidence both were involved in the ATP’s attempts under the Etienne de Villiers regime to make a big stand against betting on matches. Like many of the former CEO’s decisions, the campaign to stamp out betting in the wake of the unresolved Nikolay Davydenko affair was worthy but ill-conceived.

Like WADA, the anti-doping organization who has proved itself to be far more interested in nailing drug cheats than worrying about ruining an athlete’s career and reputation on the off chance that they might be not guilty, the ATP started handing large fines of up to $50,000 and three month suspensions because a bunch of Italians and other European players had placed 50 euro bets on a few matches for a bit of fun.

Yes, it was against the ATP rules but, back in 2005 when the bets were made, it was in the fine print that few people read. A rap on the knuckles was in order but as soon as the severity of the penalties were made public not only did the game of tennis take an unnecessary rap in the media as a sport ‘mired with betting scandals’ but the word match fixing started to be banded about.

The result is that Luzzi and Montcourt will be forever stigmatized as players who were trying to do something sinister and illegal. And if you want proof, just try checking some of the posts about Luzzi on Google. One I came across read in part: “Luzzi was better known for being involved in a match fixing scandal and was banned for 200 days.”

The scandal is not that Luzzi placed a little, harmless bet but that this should be the legacy of an honorable sporting career. Can you imagine what his family feel about this? It should be actionable because it is simply not true. Neither Luzzi nor Montcourt, who has been tarred with the same brush, were ever guilty of match fixing or anything like it. They were honorable young men who were following a sporting career with some success and deserve far better than this.

Rules and regulations are necessary and there is no question that tennis, as a sport which is highly vulnerable to the real criminals who would like to influence the course of matches, should adopt strict safeguards against the infiltration of undesirable influences. But that, in no way, should mean destroying the reputations of the innocent.

The ATP is probably unable to try and put the record straight until a lawsuit, levied against it by a group of Italian players who, like Luzzi, were fined and suspended, is resolved in a Miami courtroom. 

But when that case is settled, it should be too much to ask the ATP to issue a clear and unequivocal statement to the fact that Luzzi and Montcourt, who are no longer here to defend themselves, were guilty of nothing more than a minor infringement of the ATP Rule Book and were, in no way whatsoever, guilty of match fixing or any action intended to harm the sport they played with such dedication and skill.

We should let them rest in peace and reduce, in any way possible, the pain of their families’ loss.