Anhelina Kalinina was one of 23 players to receive a $25,000 Grand Slam Player Grant at the turn of 2020 - financial support that proved particularly helpful, given all that would transpire with the global pandemic that year.

"This grant gave me opportunity,” said Kalinina, who climbed from No. 163 in the world at the turn of 2021 to No. 52 by the year's end. “It allowed me to prepare for tournaments. Even if the world stopped, I was able to put this money to my process, to keep going, to keep training with a fitness trainer every day. You can’t just stop playing tennis and then when everything becomes normal play like you did before.

"When you know that you can continue to do your job, to do what you love most in life, you can really improve yourself, without stopping and thinking ‘oh my god, what am I going to do tomorrow? I have to pay for the coach, I have to pay for the physical trainer, I have to pay for the court’. The money helps so much, mentally."

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Norway’s Casper Ruud received a Grand Slam Player Grant of $25,000 in 2018. At the time, he was ranked outside the Top 100 and had yet to play a main-draw match at the Grand Slams. Fast forward three years and the Norweigan had cracked the Top 10, been seeded at every Grand Slam since the 2020 US Open, and earned well over $3million in career prize money.

“The grant from the Grand Slam [Player Development Programme] helped,” reflected Ruud. "It showed that they believed in me and that’s a nice feeling.

"The more you develop, the more the cost will come because you will bring in more and more people – at least that what I have been feeling in my career. But, in the beginning, it’s crucial to have the financial backing.”

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As a 22-year-old ranked No. 193 in the world in 2017, Jabeur received a $50,000 grant from the Grand Slam Player Development Programme that would help transform her career. That year, she became the first Arab woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam at Roland Garros, and finished the season inside the Top 100.

Jabeur’s career continues to hit historic heights. A quarter-finalist at the 2020 Australian Open and 2021 Wimbledon (the first ever for an Arab woman), she cracked the Top 10 by the end of that year and then went on to reach the final at the All England Club in 2022.

Jabeur also received support from the Grand Slam Player Development Programme on a number of occasions earlier in her tennis career. She was a part of the ITF/GSPDP African 14 and Under Team to Europe in 2008, and received four grants to play junior events through 2009-2011, and another to play women's circuit events in 2013.

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