On International Day of Education, the ITIA is placing a spotlight on our prevention work – which underpins both of tennis’ anti-doping and anti-corruption programmes.
In 2024, the ITIA delivered face-to-face education to over 2700 individuals, in a blended approach of online and in-person sessions, all designed to aid those involved in tennis – including juniors, professional tennis players, officials, and support teams – to understand and comply with tennis’ anti-doping and anti-corruption rules.
Matt Perry, Director of Education at the ITIA, has led the development of the organisation’s education approach, which has evolved significantly over a period of eight years, from when the organisation was known as the Tennis Integrity Unit [TIU].
“When I joined the TIU, the task was to establish an education function within the organisation, where there had been none previously, and my remit at that time was solely focused on anti-corruption.”
Fast forward to 2025, and the ITIA has a team of four full-time education staff, with cross-support from specialists in departments like anti-doping and investigations, with education placed as one of the organisation’s key focuses in its three-year strategy for 2025-2027, reflecting the ITIA commitment to supporting players to make good decisions – on and off the court.
“Education is now very much embedded within the structure of the sport,” said Matt. “It is a pathway approach, and it ensures that the key messages players are receiving at each touch point are age and stage appropriate.”
The ITIA’s programme of outreach work is designed to fit in with the tennis season, and begins, for some players, at under 14 years of age, with the ITIA delivering an introduction to integrity at the International Tennis Federation’s World Junior Tennis Finals, held in Prostejov, Czechia.
“Every player involved in the ITF Junior World Tennis Tour undertakes mandatory online modules before they are able to register for ITF tournaments, which ensures that we capture every player in the system at least once. From there, the players who compete at the highest junior levels, and are therefore most likely to become professionals, receive more targeted education from us both at events and online,” said Matt.
After meeting the ITIA for the first time at under-14 level, the world’s most promising juniors – ranked in the ITF top 500 – undertake further online training with the ITIA’s advanced integrity module, before further interventions at high-profile events like Junior Grand Slams and the ITF Junior Tour Finals.
“What that means, and we are able to see that bearing out over the years we have run the programme, is that a top junior player will likely have received a combination of five or more online and in-person sessions with the ITIA before they turn professional,” said Matt. “It is really important to build these relationships so that they know they can reach out to us with any questions they may have and, crucially, that they form good habits.”
Of course, no two players’ routes to a professional career are the same – and while the ITIA education programme invests a lot of time and resource into the junior pathway, there are similar, parallel approaches to alternative routes into the professional game – including the increasing trend of college athletes joining the tour at the conclusion of their studies, with the ITIA education programme embedded into schemes like the Accelerator Program for college athletes, and the WTA Rookie Hours initiative, targeting the rising stars in the women’s game.
“It’s important that we capture every player coming into the game, no matter how they get there. By the time a tennis player competes in a member-sanctioned tennis event, they will have all undertaken some education with us, which is an achievement in itself in such a global game.”
Aside from the targeted education content for specific groups, tennis has implemented e-learning for any player playing in a member event – they are not eligible to register to compete until they have done so.
In 2024 alone, over 15,000 individuals completed the Tennis Integrity Protection Programme (TIPP), which is mandatory for tennis players and officials, but also available for support staff.
Matt continued: “TIPP is completed every two years, and the content is updated to reflect relevant changes to the rules and current or emerging risks.”
As players progress to towards the higher echelons of the game, education becomes more bespoke, and focuses more on small group or one-to-one sessions discussing specific subjects like Whereabouts, supplement use, and Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs).
“It all comes back to that ‘pathway’ concept – not every player in the tennis landscape will be invited to become a part of the Whereabouts testing pool, and so we engage with the players on these subjects when they are most relevant to them.
“Education and prevention is a huge priority – not only for us, but for the whole sport – and our message continues to be that we are here to support good decision making and players, officials or support teams should feel comfortable to get in touch with us with any questions they have.
“Ultimately, we’re all responsible for keeping the sport clean.”
More data from the ITIA’s education programme will be available in our upcoming Annual Review for 2024.
Published 24 January 2025 12:00
