London  - An initially suspicious Wimbledon online betting spike has been revealed as punters jumping on injury information reported on television, but the idea of any corruption sits badly with five-time champion Roger Federer.

"We always hope that the players also want the best for the sport," said the Swiss. "At the end of the day, that's what it comes down to."

Fears were raised Tuesday when nearly a million dollars suddenly flew onto Austrian Jurgen Melzer in a first-round match he eventually won in three quick sets over injured American Wayne Odesnik.

The Betfair agency thought it smelled a rate, as the usual handle on first-rounders is around 160,000 dollars. The online agency turned over records for a look by the tennis anti corruption unit, but further checking failed to turn up anything ill-toward.

Federer believes players should stay well away from anything that would cast a taint over the sport.

"We don't talk about it in the locker room. But it's happened more frequently than we talk about that. It has no place in tennis.

"I think we should have massive bans on those (players) who get caught so they get really scared of doing it. We can't avoid that there are some funny results sometimes here and there. You know, that doesn't mean it's really happening (a lot)." (dpa)