Tennis Australia rights talks review revealed in lawsuit

Tennis Australia president Steve Healy ordered an independent review into whether a fellow board member had a conflict of interest during talks in 2013 to sell media rights to Seven West Media, according to Fairfax Media.

The rights for the 2015 to 2019 cycle were awarded to Seven in a deal worth a total of about Aus$200m (€139m/$145m) without launching a competitive bidding process.

The existence of the review into an unnamed board member was disclosed in a defamation lawsuit filed in December in the Supreme Court of Victoria against Healy (pictured) by former Tennis Australia board member Janet Young, who is not thought to have been the subject of the original investigation.

Tennis Australia has not revealed what the review found, but a spokesperson said: “Tennis Australia is very comfortable that no such conflict existed in relation to the sale of its domestic broadcast rights.”

The lawsuit filed by Young alleges that she was defamed by Healy after he claimed in an email that the review team had advised him that a director had committed a "fundamental and serious breach of directors' duties" by contacting former directors who were participating in the review.