The 124th-ranked Italian was also fined $60,000 after being found guilty of making 120 bets with an online bookmaker from Nov. 2, 2006 to June 12 this year.

Di Mauro, who faced a maximum penalty of three years, is banned until Aug. 12, 2008.

The investigation found none of the bets were on his matches and no results were affected.

"This does underline our policy of players and staff wagering on tennis," ATP president Etienne de Villiers said. "If we do not have a sport with integrity, we do not have a sport. We recognized in 2003 the threat of online betting. We take this really seriously."

In 2003, the ATP signed an agreement with online betting company Betfair to share information on suspicious matches.

De Villiers said that a new rule requiring players to report any attempt to fix a match within 48 hours of being contacted will be passed at an ATP board meeting on Nov. 15.

The head of the ATP's new anti-corruption body will be selected from the three remaining candidates at the same board meeting.

"Do I believe we have a corruption problem? No, I don't," De Villiers said. "We will do anything we can to deal with this threat."

Calls to di Mauro's cell phone went unanswered Saturday. But the Italian tennis federation criticized the penalty as too harsh. Spokesman Giancarlo Baccini said he believes di Mauro is being used as a scapegoat.

"At first glance, it seems disproportionate considering other bans in the past — from doping cases, for example," Baccini told The Associated Press.

"They say he never committed sporting fraud, so the only thing he did was bet, which is prohibited and should definitely be punished," Baccini said. "But there have been players banned only six months for doping, so nine months for di Mauro seems disproportionate."

The Italian federation issued a separate statement noting that the ATP said di Mauro never tried to affect the result of a match, "Whereas doping, besides putting in danger the health of whoever does it, is equal in all effects to sporting fraud."

The 30-year-old Di Mauro has a 5-10 record this year and is 16-35 overall. He has earned $130,915 in prize money.

Di Mauro's season highlight came in February when he reached the final of a clay-court tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Sicilian reached a career-high ranking of 68th.

Di Mauro's coach, Fabio Rizzo, told Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this week that Di Mauro was an avid online gambler but never bet on his own matches or cheated.

"He didn't know about the ban on players betting on their own sport and he also foolishly bet on tennis," Rizzo said. "But not on his own matches, and not even on tournaments he played in.

"And we're talking about very small figures — $15-$22 at a time that Alessio bet on an online site, like many colleagues. He's always had a passion for betting on sports, mostly soccer."