After rejecting $100k match-fixing offer, an Argentine becomes oldest man to crack top 100

Marco Trungelliti. (Getty/Clive Bunskill)

At 36 years and 64 days old, Argentina's Marco Trungelliti will next week officially debut in the top 100, becoming the oldest man in the Open era to do so.

In 2018, he lost in qualifying at Roland-Garros and decided to head back home to Barcelona, with his 90-year-old grandmother coming to visit. But when he was called up as a Lucky Loser, with no trains running, he drove 10 hours by car with his mother, brother and grandmother to cover the 1000km distance.

Now up to No.85 in the live rankings, Trungelliti fought back from a set down against third seed Corentin Moutet to seal his place in the ATP 250 Marrakech semi-finals.

"Making the Top 100 was a big goal for basically my whole career," Trungelliti said. "I feel over the past two years, I was getting closer and closer in terms of level and mentally. Physically, I have been doing a lot better than my whole life, which helps a lot. It is amazing."

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However, 11 years ago, it could've been so different.

Trungelliti was approached by match fixers in 2015, offering up to $100,000 when he was competing on the ATP Tour. But he turned it down and reported the incident to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU).

In an interview with Argentine publication, La Nacion, Trungelitti revealed that threats got so bad, that he was forced to flee Buenos Aires.

"It was hard as time went by and the… bullying, pointing, a lot of little voices that I didn't like began. And there I began to realise, in quotes, the mess I had gotten myself into," he explained. "It's like I began to experience everything that was seen in the movies: I'm referring to the fear that my family felt, to the general senselessness that we encountered… harsh, harsh.

"It is not a moment in my life that I remember with happiness. Yes, the fact that I had the courage to open my mouth. But internally it was hard. I went into a certain depression."

He later added: "Sergiy Stakhovsky, who had called me a snitch, later came out to say that he was also offered. It's like everything was falling into place, but he broke me, basically, because I didn't expect it. That, in addition to how the ATP, the TIU, the Association and the ITF acted, was a tremendous combo, one stab after the other. All of these organisations fell far short of what is needed for things to improve."

But Trungelliti is left with no regrets, as he once said in his witness statement that he would rather "kill [his] career 700 times than be part of that system."

Preparing for only his second-ever ATP semi-final, he faces top seed Luciano Darderi in a bid to reach the final in Morocco.

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