Australia defends prize money amid player complaints

Governing body Tennis Australia (TA) has defended the amount of prize money on offer at the Australian Open as twice Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff warned that players would raise the pressure if their demands were not met.

The Australian Open hiked prize money to A$111.5 million ($74.56 million) for the current tournament, bringing it ahead of last year's French Open ($65.42 million) and Wimbledon ($71.60 million) but short of the U.S. Open's purse ($90 million).

The world's top players wrote to the Grand Slams calling for significant improvements in prize money in April last year, and a number have expressed dissatisfaction with the situation at Melbourne Park in recent days.

Tournament director Craig Tiley, however, said no players had approached him with any complaints about the Australian Open.