According to The Athletic, Gauff and co. asked for the Grand Slam tournaments to contribute to welfare and benefit funds for pensions, healthcare and maternity; for better player representation with the formation of a Grand Slam Player Council; and for an increase in prize money proportionate to revenue.
The four Majors have already responded to the letter in question, which was dated July 30, but recently came to light. And Gauff has now explained why it was important for her to sign both memos.
“I think for me personally, I think for the long run of our sport, the whole ecosystem, I think it’s really important,” she said after reaching the China Open semi-finals on Thursday.
“As we know in this sport, the Grand Slams are generating the most revenue, at least the stats and the percentages they gave me, when you look at the percentage of that revenue going to prize money, it is not the same as the WTA and ATP, even though they’re generating less revenue than the Slams.
“I think it’s important for the whole ecosystem of the sport. Sometimes people are focused on just the prize money. We’re not talking about just raising the prize money for the champion, but trickling all the way down to qualies.
“We kind of want them to invest more in the tour as a whole, not only when it comes to prize money, but the well-being of players and just trickling that down, all the way down to the lower-ranked players as well. Our 200th best player, 300th best player are struggling to make ends meet. In other leagues, it’s not that common, especially with the revenue that tennis is generating.”
While Gauff knows it will take a while to see real change, the 21-year-old is playing the long game. She added: “I think for me it was important for the long run of the sport, I don’t know if it will happen in my career lifetime in this sport, where it reaches that.
“I want to leave the sport better than I found it. Obviously, all the top-10 players agree. I think this is the first time on the tour we’ve gotten both the top 10 on men and women to sign something and agree to something. I think it’s a big step.
“Yeah, I know they’re having conversations. Hopefully we can reach a solution in the near future.”
