The Wimbledon tennis champion Andy Murray is calling on the world's elite players and the grand slam tournaments to help fund an increase in prize money at the lower levels of the sport.
Prize money on the ITF Futures circuit hasn't increased since that tour was re-modelled 16 years ago.
Winners of a week long tournament can take home less than $NZ 1500 in prize money and Murray says plenty of players quit tennis in their early twenties because the can't afford to continue playing.
Murray says the cost of living has risen 53 percent since the Futures tour was re-modelled in 1998, yet a player knocked out in the quarter-finals may receive less than $NZ400 in prize money.
