Tennis: Will the prize money of Grand Slam tournaments increase? Top players like Sabalenka-Djokovic made the demand

At present, the total prize money of the Australian Open and French Open is around $58 million, while Wimbledon is around $64 million and the US Open is around $75 million. 20 leading tennis players like Novak Djokovic, Yannick Sinner, Arina Sabalenka and Coco Gauff have demanded to increase the prize money of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Not only this, these veterans and star tennis players have demanded to give more importance to their opinion in the decisions affecting them. These stars have written a letter to the heads of the four Grand Slam tournaments in this regard. This letter was written on march 21.

The head of the Australian Open is Craig Tiley, while the head of the French Open is stephen Morel, the head of Wimbledon is Sally Bolton and the head of the US Open is Lew Sher. Addressing all these, the players have also requested in the letter to hold a meeting between their representatives and the heads of the four Grand Slams during the Madrid Open to be held this month.

This letter has the signatures of all the players in the top 10 in the men's ranking, while among the top-11 players in the women's category, only Elina Rybakina has not signed it. Currently, the total prize money of the Australian Open and French Open is around $ 58 million (about Rs 494 crore), while Wimbledon's is around $ 64 million (about Rs 545 crore) and the US Open's is around $ 75 million (about Rs 639 crore). Out of this amount, prize money is distributed to the winners, runners-up and other participating players.

The international tennis Federation has announced that this year's Hopman Cup will be played in the southern Italian city of Bari. Teams from Italy, france, Spain, Greece, canada and defending champion Croatia will participate in this mixed team tournament. It will be held from 16 to 20 July, a week after Wimbledon. Teams for the Hopman Cup consist of one male and one female player. One match consists of one men's singles match, one women's singles match and one mixed doubles match. Players do not get ranking points from this tournament.

Named after Australian great Harry Hopman, the Hopman Cup began in 1989 and was played every year until 2020. For the first 30 years, it was held in the first week of the tennis season in the Australian city of Perth. It was last held in france in 2023 in which Croatia's Donna Vekic and Borna Coric became champions.