West has served as the Tennis Australia’s risk and compliance manager since December 2007 and has led the development of their Anti-Corruption Commission, a predecessor of the worldwide Tennis Integrity Unit.

She has been credited with developing and implementing a uniform national approach to integrity and compliance issues and has been responsible for the creation of Tennis Australia’s anti-doping and member protection policies.

The organisation have expressed their belief that West, who boasts 40 years of experience in sports administration, will help to strength the credibility of the sport by utilising her contacts across sporting, local, federal and interstate police and governing bodies.

“Ann has already done an outstanding job within Tennis Australia, from setting up a world-first tennis anti-corruption policy, to developing and managing comprehensive member protection policies for the tennis family in Australia,” said Craig Tiley, Tennis Australia chief executive.

“Ann will now head up a new team with an uncompromising focus around integrity and compliance as the reputation of our sport is being challenged in a difficult environment.

“Ann’s wealth of experience and knowledge in the areas of integrity and compliance make her the perfect choice to lead a newly created team and her elevation to the executive is both a reflection of her own performance at the company and of her expertise in integrity and compliance.”

One of her key responsibilities will be to aid the Independent Review Panel (IRP), led by Adam Lewis, who are investigated the effectiveness and appropriateness of the current global tennis anti-corruption programme.

The panel was established by international tennis’ four governing bodies - the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Grand Slam Board – in February.

It followed an investigation by the BBC and Buzzfeed, which claimed that 16 players, ranked in the top 50 in the world across the past decade, have been repeatedly flagged as having potentially thrown matches.

West will also be responsible for the development and implementation of all recommendations of the IRP within Australia, continuing cooperation with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and developing Tennis Australia’s education programmes for players, coaches, clubs, volunteers, officials and parents.

Improving information and data sharing between member associations, the Tennis Integrity Unit and law enforcement agencies will be another key task.

“The importance of taking an integrated and coordinated approach, and my plan is to have an emphasis on education, is critical to tackling this issue and will be the focus of my new role,” said West.

“The first thing on my agenda is to seek out two new hires – an experienced investigator potentially from a law enforcement background and a sports compliance expert.

“Both of whom would have extensive working knowledge and understanding of national policies and their development in the areas of member protection, integrity and anti-doping.”