Autopsy shows Montcourt died of cardiac arrest

Mathieu Montcourt of France plays a shot during his match against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris in this May 27, 2009 file photo.

PARIS (Reuters) - French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt, who was found dead outside his home this week, suffered a cardiac arrest, a police source said on Wednesday after a preliminary autopsy.

Montcourt, 24, was found outside his flat near Paris at about 1.00 a.m. on Tuesday after spending the evening at the home of Patrice Dominguez, technical director of the French Tennis Federation.

Further tests that can detect the presence of any drugs or medicines in the body have been carried out. The results are expected at the weekend, the source said.

Montcourt, who was 119 in the ATP world rankings, had just begun a five-week ban for gambling on other players' matches, although he was cleared of influencing the outcome of any of the matches.

He had also been fined $12,000 for the offence, a penalty he had described as "ridiculous" given what he said was a lack of clarity in the ATP rules and the small sums of money, totalling only $192, he had wagered.

Dominguez and his son Mathieu, a close friend of Montcourt's, have been interviewed by police because they were among the last people to see the player alive.

Patrice Dominguez told Reuters on Tuesday that Montcourt, who lived near his house and was a frequent visitor, had not appeared to be suffering any problems and had spent a quiet evening watching a film.