Scotland's Gordon Reid believes the Australian Open have missed a trick by failing to invest properly in the wheelchair events.

 

Total prize money in the wheelchair events, including the Quads, was increased from AUD $90,000 to AUD $100,000 in 2015, an increase of 10 per cent.

That compares to the overall prize money, which saw an increase of AUD $7 million from AUD $33 million to AUD $40 million in 2015, or just over 21 per cent.

Reid, who was due to play his doubles semi-final overnight, said all of the grand slams should invest more in the wheelchair events to expand the sport and increase the number of players who can make a living from it.

"If the prize money were to be doubled or even trebled at the grand slams, considering how much is already spent, how much would the tournaments really miss that?" Reid told Herald Sport.

"But it would totally change our sport as players would be earning enough to train as professionals and the level would rise as more and more people would compete."

Reid did say the Australian Open's offer of $2500 to all players, in all events, to help with travel and accommodation, had helped a lot.

But he said things needed to keep improving for the sport to grow.

"I hope that in the future we can have more and more players playing professionally as they will have the means and can afford to," he said.

"I also hope that along with that, we can increase our draw sizes at the grand slams."

The singles draws were just eight strong for the men and women, while the doubles events contained just four pairs apiece.