Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Photo courtesy Tennis Australia

John Newcombe has come down hard with recommendations of a life ban for any player found guilty of match-fix corruption, with the Aussie tennis legend warning of falling into the grip of hardened gamblers.

“To young players I’d say that if you get involved with these people you’re in a steel trap – they won’t let you out,” the seven-times grand slam event champion told Australian media. “Once you make the mistake of agreeing to do something, they’ll hold it over you for the rest of your life. So don’t do it. It’s not worth it.”

While the noted party player back in the day had his good times in the free-and-easy 1960s and 1970s in the sport, it’s all much more serious now in a multimillion dollar sport with a worldwide profile.

“Gambling is a fact of life. . . you can’t fight it, you’ve just got to try to control it as good as you can and keep drilling the message in to the players that they’re going to pay a huge penalty if they do anything (wrong),” the former Davis Cup captain and ex number one said.

Newcombe also added that gambling companies as tournament sponsors was a “question mark” over the sport.

Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.