Jamie Murray backed calls for grand slam prize money to be increased – and believes doubles players deserve a bigger share.

The Scot and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares are both on the ATP player council and were present at the much-talked-about meeting on the eve of the Australian Open when council president Novak Djokovic addressed various issues.

Roger Federer has been the strongest advocate so far for a significant increase in prize money at the slams, citing the tournaments’ booming revenues, and Murray agrees.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer has advocated increasing prize money (Vincent Thian/AP)
Switzerland’s Roger Federer has advocated increasing prize money (Vincent Thian/AP)

He said: “I think the players deserve a better percentage of the revenue. I think seven per cent is not a lot of the share of the pie.

“Ultimately we can’t do anything. That’s why the players get frustrated with the whole grand slam situation because we don’t have a seat at the table. The players get well paid at the grand slams of course but that’s not really the point.”

Murray does not feel it would ever get as far as a strike, while he expressed doubts about the benefits of a players union separate to the ATP, which reportedly was one of the suggestions made by Djokovic.

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“I don’t really know enough about that and how that would work but from talking to people it seems like a small percentage of players would perhaps benefit and maybe the masses wouldn’t,” said Murray. “I’m one of the masses. It’s potentially not in my interest.”

Of more interest to Murray is pushing for doubles players to be better rewarded in comparison to their singles counterparts.

The winners of the men’s and women’s singles titles will take home four million Australian dollars (£2.3million) each while the doubles champions share 700,000 dollars (£400,000) between them.

India’s Leander Paes, and Purav Raja celebrate after defeating Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares (Ng Han Guan/AP)
India’s Leander Paes, and Purav Raja celebrate after defeating Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares (Ng Han Guan/AP)

Murray and Soares will have to settle for less than £10,000 each after losing an epic second-round clash 7-6 (7/3) 5-7 7-6 (8/6) to veteran Indians Leander Paes and Purav Raja on Saturday.

Murray said: “You see today, we go out there and we play. The court’s packed, it’s a great atmosphere. It was the same in the first round. There’s a lot of excitement around the doubles game and I think that should be recognised.

“It seems like it’s getting further and further apart, which I don’t think is really a great sign of things to come. They obviously have their reasons and we have to find a way to bring more value to the tournament.”

Murray and Soares won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles in 2016 but were relatively disappointing in the slams last season and this was another poor result, albeit in a very close match.

They led 5-3 in the opening set and had a set point, while they forced one match point in the deciding tie-break only for Raja to play an inspired final two points.

Murray remains in the mixed doubles, where he and Latisha Chan are top seeds, and is flying the family flag alone with Andy sidelined following hip surgery.

Andy Murray has now travelled home having had the operation in Melbourne. Jamie said: “I saw him a couple of times, he seems in good spirits. Hopefully the surgery went well. He’s just got to bide his time, do his rehab and hopefully get back on the court as good as he was before.”

There was better news on the court for Murray’s Davis Cup partner Dominic Inglot, who is through to the third round with partner Marcus Daniell of New Zealand after they beat French duo Benoit Paire and Hugo Nys 6-4 6-2.