As allegations of match fixing continue to hang over the Australian Open, tennis' governing bodies have acknowledged the damage done to their sport in a ''toxic'' environment and have announcing an independent review into the procedures in place to keep the game clean.
Authorities on Wednesday reiterated their view that the match-fixing allegations contained in a BBC-Buzzfeed report published on the first morning of the tournament had revealed nothing new, but acknowledged that the subsequent publicity had created a perception that was damaging tennis. 
''Certainly the events of the last 10 days have caused damage to our sport, there's no getting away from that,'' Philip Brook, chairman of both the Tennis Integrity Board, and Wimbledon, said at Melbourne Park.
''We have to repair the damage that's been done. But we acknowledge we can improve. We're determined to do everything we need to do to remove corruption from our sport.''
ATP chairman Chris Kermode said it was unprecedented for the game's seven stakeholders ''to come together to restore public confidence in our sport'', and they had voted unanimously to undertake an independent review headed by Adam Lewis QC, a leading expert on sports law in London.
''We had to act quickly. We're in a toxic environment for sport . . . we want to be as open and transparent as possible. There is zero, zero tolerance for this in our game.''
Kermode said Lewis would conduct an open review with ''nothing off the table'' in which he would have the freedom to ''talk to anyone, investigate anything'' and it ''will cost what it costs''. There is no deadline, although authorities will seek an interim report as soon as possible. Results of the review will be made public.
''And the most important point is we have committed to act on every recommendation,'' Kermode said.
Asked if the review was effectively a concession that tennis has a bigger problem with corruption than officials have hitherto been prepared to concede, Kermode said it was about being proactive.
''If we sat back and had done nothing, we would have been accused that sport again is being complacent. We don't want to be complacent. We want to be constantly vigilant. I think this is a very bold step. We need to address the perception, public confidence, hit it head on. We don't have anything to hide at all.''
Brook said the relationship between betting agencies and tournaments - such as William Hill being an official Australian Open partner - would also be looked at, noting that several players had observed it created a ''bad look''. ''It's currently allowed under the anti-corruption program, [but] one or two players have said they didn't understand the relationship.''
He admitted the number of options for betting on tennis made the the issue even more complex and is another area that would be addressed. ''It's something like 68 different bets are possible on a tennis match,'' Brook said. ''More than half of them are in play. That therefore raises and enhances the possibility for people to organise things that are harder to spot.''
Kermode said the timing of the allegations had been hard on the Australian Open, and expressed disappointment that certain players had been linked to unusual gambling patterns on matches.
''[But] what I don't like is that names are attached based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever.''
The match-fixing story cranked up a notch on Sunday when it was revealed the TIU was investigating a mixed doubles match at Melbourne Park in which Spanish duo David Marrero and Lara Arruabarrena lost 6-0, 6-3 to Czech Andrea Hlavackova and Poland's Lukasz Kubot after betting had been suspended due to irregular wagering on the victors.
The officials said the reaction from players in general to last week's report had ranged from concern and anger. ''They're taking it quite personally,'' Kermode said. ''It's their image and reputation that's on the line, so they are fully supportive of anything we do and actually want this to happen.''
ITF president David Haggerty said there would be greater education processes for young players.