Tennis Australia to beef up integrity unit

Organisation keen to assist global watchdog in battle against corruption

MELBOURNE: Tennis Australia are to beef up their integrity unit to fight corruption in the sport after their showcase tournament was blighted earlier this year by allegations of global inaction to combat it.

The Australian Open, the year’s first grand slam tournament, was rocked on its opening day by reports the sport’s global watchdog, the Tennis Integrity Unit, had done little to combat or properly investigate wide-spread match-fixing.

Tennis officials, who rejected the reports, later announced they would review their anti-corruption practices, while past and present players urged more money be pumped into their fight against corruption.



Tennis Australia said their current Risk and Compliance manager Ann West would be named as the Head of Integrity and Compliance and would have two new staff members join her.

One, preferably from a law enforcement background, would take on an investigative role, while another would have expertise in compliance issues, said the organisation.

A Tennis Australia spokesperson said their anti-corruption efforts were previously undertaken by a group of departments but would now fall to West’s team.



“There has been much criticism of sporting organisations across the globe recently for a lack of transparency in matters of corruption, anti-doping and member protection,” said West in a statement. “The importance of taking an integrated and coordinated approach is critical to tackling this issue and will be the focus of my new role.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2016.

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