Players are demanding greater rewards from the Grand Slams based on their pulling power, and reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys is “cautiously optimistic” about change coming.
Three-time major finalist Alexander Zverev, however, feels “little progress” is being made.
The pair have been among the star names in Melbourne addressing an ongoing point – do the Slams value them as much as they should?
Keys and Zverev are part of a group of top-20 players who held a series of discussions last year with the four majors – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open – about receiving more prize money and increased welfare support.
Some have questioned if the players are being reasonable. Keys believes it “absolutely makes sense” for them to ask for more.
“We obviously give a lot of ourselves to this sport,” Keys said. “As we are the product, it makes sense for us to be partners.”
Zverev said: “We’re playing the matches. We’re playing the tours. When we try to get into the politics, we don’t really have that much of a voice in it.
“Most of the time it’s a lot of investments, time-wise, from our side, but not a lot of results, which is sometime a bit upsetting.
“I don’t really feel like there’s any progress.”
