Andrea Collarini claims to have been robbed at Sarasota Challenger
Argentina's Andrea Collarini claims to have been robbed at the Sarasota Challenger following his third round match at the tournament.
The 27-year-old beat American Bjorn Fratangelo in the third round before he was allegedly robbed in the locker room.
Collarini's Sarasota campaign eventually ended with a semi-final defeat suffered against Tommy Paul.
"After winning my third round match at the Sarasota Challenger, USA, I head to the locker room to shower. When I return, I saw a man (around 50 years old, dark short hair with a cap and white shirt) taking clothes from my bag. In shock, I try to stop him, and he returns what he was taking at the moment (two dirty socks and some wristbands). I realize that my bag is all messed up and meanwhile he runs away," Collarini claimed on Twitter.
"I try to chase him but unfortunately the parking lot was (the) next door and he was probably already in his car. All (of) this happened in a private neighbourhood. The person who stole (the stuff from) me had a tournament badge, but nobody knew him. Some players told me that he asked for photos and (he) had a Portuguese accent.
"He stole (from) me three rackets (because the remaining two ones luckily I had in the car), two match shirts, two match shirts, two caps, two pairs of socks, a big with 25 wristbands -- which I always have for training and matches.
Collarini then suggested that the tournament officials didn't help him too much in finding the thief.
"I went to ask for help from the organization of the tournament, and the only measure they took was to walk through the courts as if by doing so they would find the thief. I asked them to close the country club's exit and verify the belongings of the people who were leaving, but nobody did anything.
"Additionally, I made the police report. The locker room did not have security and therefore anyone who was in the club could access. It also had security cameras outside, which would have allowed identifying the thief, but they were turned off.
"Nobody in the organization took (the) responsibility for what happened, although they are in charge of providing security to players on-site and especially of providing a secure locker room, with an entrance strictly monitored.
"Besides the emotional impact that implied, having to continue to play in an insecure environment, where I had this unfortunate episode, I was left with only two rackets, which affected my remaining training and matches, and I will continue to be affected for the rest of the tour.
"It is a shame that these things happen in professional tournaments, which could be avoided by complying with the required security established in the ATP rulebook."
Collarini also provided photos of the suspected robber.
This is the person who stole my things. These images are from the video (livestream) of my match vs Fratangelo. Please let me know if you recognize him. pic.twitter.com/cuIr6W8XSS
— Andrea Collarini (@andreacollarini) April 21, 2019
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2XEF7gd
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