Gambling, leukaemia and Hollywood: the sad story of Italian tennis star Federico Luzzi

More than 15 years have passed since Federico Luzzi was taken from us. Join us as we take a look back at the life and career of the Italian tennis player.

Luzzi was born on 3 January 1980 in the Italian city of Arezzo. The son of a doctor and a music teacher, he first picked up a tennis racket at the age of 3, according to ATP Tour.

The decision proved to be the right one, as he was very successful as a youngster, winning two European titles, a world title and several Italian titles.

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According to ATP Tour, Luzzi's idol when he was young was former Swedish tennis champion Stefan Edberg (pictured).

Luzzi eventually turned pro in 1999 and worked his way up the rankings.

His best year was 2001, when he won the challenger tournaments of Bombay and Singapore and made it to the quarter-finals of the Ciutat de Barcelona Tennis Tournament. He also reached the last 16 at the Italian Open in Rome and the main draw of the French Open for the first time.

That same year, he also made his Davis Cup debut for Italy against Finland.

Early 2002, Luzzi reached his highest ranking ever, becoming world No. 92, per ATP Tour.

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Soon, however, he sustained a shoulder injury that would trouble him for the rest of his career and would result in a drop in the rankings.

However, this did not stop Luzzi from achieving his best Grand Slam result, reaching the second round at the 2006 Australian Open.

In 2007, he almost made it into the top 100 again, but 2008 brought bad news as Luzzi was banned for 200 days by the ATP for betting on tennis matches, Reuters reported. He was also fined with $50.000.

During his ban, Luzzi reportedly worked on another dream of his and auditioned as an actor in Hollywood.

In October 2008, however, the Italian was struck by tragedy when he was diagnosed with fulmonic leukaemia.

He died a few days later, at the age of 28, causing mourning in the tennis world.

After his death, the FedeLux charity was founded to fund scientific research against leukaemia and care for people with haematological diseases.

Luzzi had a short, but intense life and will forever be remembered through his charity and by tennis fans in Italy and around the world.

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