The French Tennis Federation has launched a legal action in Liege, Belgium against online bookmakers Betfair, BWin and Ladbrokes to prevent them offering online in-running betting during the French Open Tennis tournament in May.

The Federation has also started similar action in France against two other operators, UniBet and Expekt, stating two reasons for the action.

Firstly, as sole owner of the event it believes it has sole rights to any profit derived from it. But it is really the second reason, the threat of corruption that will raise more eyebrows, after tennis recently being rocked by an increasing number and severity of scandals in recent months.