Martina Navratilova says tennis players who are caught match-fixing should be banned from the sport for life.

In the wake of a report that revealed eight matches at Wimbledon have been reported on suspicion that their results have been fixed by professional gambling syndicates, Navratilova called on the tennis authorities to protect the sport's integrity.

"I don't think it's been going for very long, but it's really difficult to track," the nine-time Wimbledon singles champion said. "The only way to really check on it is by betting patterns - and obviously there have been some betting patterns which are very disconcerting.

"I think the only way to really deal with it would be to make extremely severe penalties. And to me any player that would lose a match on purpose - they are done for life, lifetime ban."

The All England Club has tightened security this year to prevent players’ entourages from gaining access to insider information that could be used in gambling. Only the player and their coach will now be granted entry to the changing rooms.

"Right now they are making more money from losing one match," Navratilova added. "Rather than by winning a couple of matches, they are making a lot more money from losing one match. But if you take away their livelihood they will probably think twice about doing it.

"The key is to not start doing it. Apparently once you do one match, then they've got you. The syndicate have got you. You are on the hook because now they have got proof that you have done it once.

"The key is to walk away the first time and just not talk to them and not get hooked into it, and you're fine. But we have to make the penalties very severe because it is so difficult to track, I could lose a match and you would never know that I lost it on purpose.

"The top players aren't going to lose matches on purpose because they can win the whole thing. But the middle ranks..."