London, Sep 18 (IANS): Tennis' Grand Slam tournaments Thursday agreed to increase their contribution to the Grand Slam Development Fund (GSDF) by 25 percent to over $2 million annually in order to assist the development of the sport worldwide.

"Since the GSDF was founded in 1986, it has contributed nearly $42 million to provide opportunities for players to compete or to help them directly so that more nations and players will be represented in the mainstream of international competition," International Tennis Federation (ITF) president Francesco Ricci Bitti said.

"It is easy to see how successful this programme has been over the years with the ever growing number of nations whose players compete at the highest levels."

Elaborating further ITF executive director of development Dave Miley said: "The additional funding will greatly help us expand the activities of the GSDF. It will be able to help more players in more countries have a chance to achieve their goals of a professional career in tennis and we look forward to even more successful results in the future."