The wife of baseball's highest-paid star filed for divorce today, blaming his "soul mate" Madonna for the collapse of her marriage.

Alex Rodriguez's wife Cynthia claimed in court papers that the $275 million New York Yankees player had been unfaithful and "emotionally abandoned his wife and children".

"The marriage of the parties is irretrievably broken because of the husband's extramarital affairs and other marital misconduct," her divorce petition said.

The divorce battle landed in court in Miami just days after it was reported that Rodriguez was paying late night visits to Madonna's New York flat.

A lawyer for Mrs Rodriguez said her husband's relationship with "The Material Girl" was "the straw that broke the camel's back".

Friends say the baseballer has been "brainwashed" by the pop star's mystical Kabbalah religion.

"This all started with Kaballah," one friend told the New York Daily News. "Alex told Cynthia that he'd discovered that he'd been looking for his soul mate. And now, he said, he'd found her."

The friend said Mrs Rodriguez had found a letter in which her husband told Madonna: "You are my true soul mate."

Madonna is herself battling reports of trouble in her marriage to "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" director Guy Ritchie.

Her brother Christopher Ciccone will reportedly claim in a new tell-all book that her seven-year marriage is only held together by a trusted rabbi who makes house calls to act as counsellor.

Nevertheless, Madonna, 49, and Ritchie, 39, attended Kabbalah services together in New York on Saturday.

The singer later took the unusual step of issuing a statement to people.com to deny she was romantically involved with Rodriguez, nicknamed "A-Rod".

"My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce," Madonna said. "I know Alex Rodriguez through Guy Oseary, who manages both of us. I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez. I have nothing to do with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may choose to study."

As news of the break-up hit the tabloids in New York, Mrs Rodriguez fled the media frenzy to the Paris mansion of rocker Lenny Kravitz.

Mr Kravitz issued his own statement denying he was part of any love quadrangle.

"There is absolutely no affair between Cynthia Rodriguez and myself," he said. "It is unequivocally 100-per-cent not true. Cynthia is friend and is here (in Paris) with the godfather of her baby, who is also Alex's trainer, his wife and their baby girl. She came here to escape from everything happening in New York City. I opened my home to her as friend and it's extremely hurtful that I am now being referred to as an adulterer."

Rodriguez became the highest-paid player in baseball last year when he signed a 10-year deal worth $275 million with the Yankees.

He recently equalled the 536 home run mark set by Yankees icon Mickey Mantle, putting him in 13th place on the all-time home run rankings.

Rodriguez, 32, married Cynthia, 35, in 2002 and they have two children - Natasha, 3, and Ella, 3 months.

Their marriage hit the headlines last year when A-Rod was photographed entering a Toronto strip club with an exotic dancer, earning him the nickname "Stray-Rod."

Friends of Mrs Rodriguez say A-Rod announced the marriage was over just three weeks after the birth of their second child.

The Rodriguezes have been living in a $12 million home in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables and A-Rod also has a $7.4 million flat in New York's Trump Park Avenue.

Mrs Rodriguez wants to keep the Coral Gables house and is asking for primary custody of their two children, as well as child support and alimony. The couple signed a prenuptial agreement, but she is reserving the right to argue it is invalid.

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