WTA boss to raise corruption issue

The head of women’s tennis has admitted anti-corruption will be “the first item on the agenda” when he addresses 250 players before the start of the Australian Open next weekend.

Women’s Tennis Association chief executive Larry Scott revealed several players had approached the WTA after being approached to throw matches.

“We have identified that there’s an awful lot of gambling on tennis and that players have been approached by people who are trying to persuade them to throw a match or provide information about a match with incentives of money,” Scott said.

“That’s obviously against all the rules. We’ve got no proof of corruption having taken place, so I don't believe there is any corruption in women’s tennis now, but we are taking all reasonable steps to combat the threat and have been focussing a lot of attention on educating players on the importance of coming forward to share information with us.

“Several players have come forward to talk to us about the approaches [to throw matches]. They have acted very, very responsibly by coming to us and ensuring we have this information.”

Scott believes any player found to have been involved in corruption should be banned for life.

“Sport is nothing without the integrity and fairness of competition,” he told BBC Sport.

“As a leader of sport, that is something I feel committed to. Therefore I think we must have the right to impose a lifetime ban on any athlete that was associated with corruption.”