Martina wants matchfixers banned for life

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-23  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

NINE-TIME Wimbledon singles champion Martina Navratilova said yesterday that players caught in matchfixing scams should be banned from the sport for life.

Responding to British media reports that the grasscourt tournament is at the center 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 today.

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.

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."