Wednesday 20 January 2016 14:50, UK
The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) has called for any players who have concerns over possible match-fixing to come forward with information.
An investigation by BBC and Buzzfeed News published on Monday, claimed that over the last decade a core group of 16 players have been brought to the attention of the sport's governing bodies over suspicions they have fixed matches.
The report claims all of the 16 players have been ranked in the world's top 50 at some point and that more than half of them were playing in the Australian Open first round, with some matches at Wimbledon and the French Open affected.
An unnamed South American tennis player subsequently explained in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday evening how matches are said to be rigged and how criminals try to avoid detection.
The male player, who requested anonymity, alleged the issues were "like a secret on the tour that everybody knows, but we don't talk about it.. You know who is doing it, and who is not... We just see it and keep working".
However, claims that the sports authorities "don't want it to be stopped" were rejected by the TIU, who reiterated their belief there is no evidence of anyone suppressing reports and urged anyone with knowledge of wrongdoing to contact them.
"The TIU and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match fixing has been suppressed for any reason," the organisation said in a statement.
"The sport has a zero-tolerance approach which is enforced with the full powers of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program, which includes lifetime bans and punitive financial penalties.
"Since 2009 all professional players, support staff and officials have been subject to this stringent code, which makes it compulsory to report any corrupt approaches or knowledge of suspected corrupt practices to the TIU.
"Failure to do so is a breach of the Program which can be subject to disciplinary action.
"The TIU works closely with players to prevent corruption through education programmes and confidential reporting systems.
"The great majority of the 21,000 active professional players are good people of high integrity who abhor the suggestion that the sport they love is tainted with allegations of corruption.
"We invite the player behind the allegations to make contact with the TIU and to share the information he claims to have."
