Possibly failure to affirm what corrupt tennis player should earn? (8,2,5)
I believe the answer is:
contempt of court
'possibly failure' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'to affirm what corrupt tennis player should earn?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'to' is present in the answer.
'tennis' could be 'court' (court tennis is a kind of tennis) and 'court' is found within the answer.
'player' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for contempt of court that I've seen is " Action showing disrespect of legal processes".)