Navratilova says ban match fixers for life

LONDON (Reuters) - Nine-times Wimbledon singles champion Martina Navratilova said on Sunday that players caught in match fixing scams should be banned from the sport for life.

Responding to media reports that the grasscourt tournament is at the centre of a huge betting scandal, the American said the key to stamping out corruption was for players to have nothing to do with anyone asking them to fix matches.

"The only way to really deal with it would be to make extremely severe penalties," she told BBC television. "To me, any player who would lose a match on purpose should be banned for life.

"Once you do one match, then they've got you," Navratilova added. "The key is to walk away the first time and just not talk to them and not get sucked into it."

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that eight matches played during the two-week Wimbledon tournament had been reported to tennis authorities on suspicion that their results were rigged by professional gambling syndicates.

It said four of the matches were played during last year's men's singles event at Wimbledon and involved foreign players who each lost by three sets.

The Independent on Sunday newspaper carried a similar report, adding that the new clampdown on corruption in the sport would be announced on Monday, the opening day of this year's tournament.

Last month a corruption probe found that while professional tennis was "neither systematically nor institutionally corrupt," 45 professional matches in the past five years had unusual betting patterns and required further investigation.

VULNERABLE PLAYERS

Navratilova, winner of 59 grand slam titles, said she was concerned that middle-ranking players were more vulnerable to being hooked in by corrupt betting syndicates.

"The top players are not going to lose matches on purpose, because they can win the whole thing, but it's the middle rank, apparently," she said.

Corruption has been high on the ATP's agenda following an investigation last year prompted by irregular betting patterns over a match between world number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland.

Both players deny any involvement but several players have said they have been approached to lose, or affect the outcome of matches.

Five Italian players have received bans for betting on tennis matches since the investigation began.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Padraic Halpin)