Grand Slam prize money: Aryna Sabalenka joins top stars asking for action on prize money and player welfare

Dialogue between the group of players – who are represented by former WTA chief Larry Scott – and the Grand Slam powerbrokers began earlier this year.

In March, the players signed a letter sent to the four majors asking for a meeting. It came shortly after the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) launched legal action against tennis’ governing bodies, citing “anti-competitive practices and a blatant disregard for player welfare”.

Sabalenka was among six stars who met with leaders from all four Grand Slams at this year’s French Open – joined by Jannik Sinner, Alex de Minaur, Casper Ruud, Coco Gauff and Madison Keys, as well as group representatives – to discuss the concerns.

That was followed up by individual meetings with each Slam at Wimbledon, where women’s semi-finalist Belinda Bencic and men’s world number three Alexander Zverev attended on behalf of the players.

“Those talks were constructive and we followed that up with proposals to how our three requests could be resolved,” Bencic told BBC Sport.

The players’ group sent out letters to all four Grand Slams individually to outline their proposals.

Replies were received from each of the tournaments, with Wimbledon advising they would consider the suggestions.

According to one source, the players are “infuriated” and feel the Grand Slams are being dismissive of their concerns.

“It has been disappointing for us with the responses that we received on those proposals that addressed the three key topics that we are actively seeking improvements on,” Bencic added.

As a result, they have decided to turn up the heat by speaking out publicly and warning they are willing to take further action, although the nature of what that might be has not yet been discussed.