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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In 2017, as a 22-year-old, Jabeur received a $50,000 grant that would help transform her career.

After beginning the year ranked No. 193, 2017 marked her breakthrough season as she contested her second career WTA quarter-final in Taipei before, as a lucky loser, becoming the first Arab woman to reach the third round of a Grand Slam at Roland Garros. She went on to finish the year inside the Top 100.

Fast-forward seven years, and Jabeur has climbed as high as No. 2 in the world and is now a three-time Grand Slam finalist, having finished runner-up at Wimbledon in both 2022 and 2023, and at the 2022 US Open. 

Jabeur received support from the Grand Slam Player Development Programme on a number of other occasions too. 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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