Roger Federer has called for the Grand Slams to up their levels of prize money and said players are “bored’ of having to push the issue.

The subject has been raised at the Australian Open after Novak Djokovic reportedly initiated a players-only meeting on the eve of the tournament.

Federer, 36, is a former president of the ATP player council, the same position Djokovic now holds.

“They could definitely pay more, no doubt about it,” Federer said.

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In 2012 there was talk of a player boycott if the major tournaments did not take action to increase prize money.

That was followed by pay increases, particularly for players losing in the early rounds.

“We’re not partners. We’re just players. It’s always hard to rally,” said Federer, a 19-time Grand Slam winner.

“We had a good agreement, in my opinion, that made the Grand Slams happy, the players pretty happy. It seems like that has run its course.

“The moment that happens, there’s not the same increases any more, so players have to rally, get back together again, put in the effort. The Grand Slams know that. They will only react when we do so. We’re ready to do it. It’s going to be the same process over and over again.

“It’s a bit boring, to be honest, always having to ask for stuff. If you look at the revenue, the sharing process, it’s not quite where it’s supposed to be.

“But you can’t go from here to right there in a day. We know that. We just hope they realise and they do appreciate us maybe more all the time and not just in waves.

“We have good contacts with the slams. It’s all good. But it’s going to be a never-ending story.”

It has been reported that Djokovic raised the prospect of forming a players’ union separate from the ATP.

Roger Federer enjoyed the kinder conditions of the night session as he beat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff at the Australian Open.

After the temperature earlier neared 40C, second seed Federer saw off Struff 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in closer to 30C.

The five-time champion goes on to face French 29th seed Richard Gasquet in the third round.

Federer’s fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka was beaten in his second match since returning from knee surgery.

The 2014 champion, seeded ninth, only decided to play in Melbourne on the eve of the tournament and was well below his best as he lost 6-2 6-1 6-4 to Tennys Sandgren of the USA.

“I think the last 12 days was more than what I could have dreamed coming here,” Wawrinka said.

“I really came without thinking I will be able to play the first match. That’s a big step for me.”

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There were no such problems on Rod Laver Arena for Federer despite an impressive performance from Struff, the world number 55.

Federer, 36, broke serve once in each of the first two sets but had to recover from a break down in the third before sealing victory in the tie-break.

Asked if he had requested an evening match, Federer said: “It’s not my call, it’s [the tournament officials’] call.

“I wouldn’t have minded playing during the day because if you want to get to the top, you’ve got to thrive in all conditions.”

Belgian seventh seed David Goffin was knocked out in the second round, going down 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 7-6 (7-4) to 36-year-old Julien Benneteau, the world number 59.

Six-time champion Novak Djokovic made it through in “brutal” mid-afternoon conditions with a 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-3 win over France’s Gael Monfils.

Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, booked a third-round meeting with Hyeon Chung of South Korea after beating fellow German Peter Gojowczyk 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3.

Fifth seed Dominic Thiem, 24, recovered from two sets down to beat American Denis Kudla and reach the last 32.

The Austrian lost a tie-break in the opener but fought back to win 6-7 (6-8) 3-6 6-2 6-2 6-3.

In round three Thiem will face France’s 26th seed Adrian Mannarino, who beat Czech Jiri Vesely 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-3.

Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, the 12th seed, took four sets to see off Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (0-7) 6-4.

American Sam Querrey, the 13th seed, had a surprise exit to world number 80 Marton Fucsovics, going down 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-2 to the Hungarian.

Czech Tomas Berdych, twice a semi-finalist in Melbourne, beat Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3 2-6 6-2 6-3.

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has urged Novak Djokovic and other male players who want higher prize money to “get together with the women”.

Djokovic used last Friday’s ATP players’ meeting at the Australian Open to propose the formation of a union to fight for greater financial reward.

Navratilova supports that but warned the 12-time Grand Slam champion paying men more than women is not the answer.

“We really need to pull together and not against each other,” she said.

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Navratilova, who won 18 major singles titles, told BBC Sport: “I think it’s great that the players should be getting more.

“The percentage of the money the majors give to the players is less than it ought to be. For me, the right way to do it would be for both the men and women to get together and say, ‘This is what we want and you need to give it to us or there won’t be a Grand Slam’.

“Certainly, giving more money to the men than the women is not a solution. That’s the wrong thing to do and I wish that Novak would see that.

“The biggest reason why these majors are so big and so important and so meaningful is because both men and women play in them and contribute equally.

“That equal prize money discussion – I thought we were done with that 10 years ago. That’s done and dusted. You should not be asking for that. It’s the wrong thing.”

Women earn the same as men at tennis majors, with the Australian Open champions receiving four million Australian dollars (£2.3m) each.

There is no suggestion that last Friday’s meeting discussed increasing men’s prize money at the expense of the women’s tour, but the issue remains a subtext to the debate.

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There are a significant number of men who think they should be paid more. Djokovic, who feels he has been unfairly portrayed as “very greedy” in some reports of recent days, made his feelings clear at the Indian Wells tournament in March 2016.

“I think that our men’s tennis world, ATP world, should fight for more because the stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches,” the 30-year-old Serb said at the time.

“Women should fight for what they think they deserve, and we should fight for what we think we deserve. As long as it’s like that and there is data and stats available upon who attracts more attention, spectators, who sells more tickets, it has to be fairly distributed.”

Navratilova, 61, has responded by saying Djokovic is not “seeing the big picture” and that the “guys just need to get over it”.

“There was a time when the women’s game was a lot more interesting than the guys’, and we never asked for more,” she continued.

“I don’t think Novak is seeing the big picture here. You need to send that signal to the world that women and men are equal and you have to back it up with the prize money.

“It’s not about quantity, quality – it’s about the drama and that we’re all in this together, and the guys just need to get over it.

“You should not be upset that someone is making just as much as you because, for the moment, your TV ratings are bigger than the other guy.

“If you just get paid like that, then Roger Federer should get paid 10 times. He should get paid more than Novak because his ratings are better – so should Roger then get a better piece of the action? It would never occur to him to ask.”

‘More noise needed’ in Margaret Court row

Navratilova said she also wishes players at the Australian Open had made “a little more noise” about the naming of the Margaret Court Arena.

Australian Court, whose 24 Grand Slam singles titles is a record, opposes same-sex marriage. Earlier on Thursday, Britain’s Laura Robson suggested the arena should be renamed.

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Like 12-time Grand Slam singles champion Billie Jean King, Navratilova says she would refuse an invitation to play in the arena and believes her name will be removed from there in future, but says she is disappointed that so many leading players have avoided commenting on the issue.

“I’m not asking them to boycott the tournament or not play on the court”, she said.

“But you have to stand up for what is right and there’s no pressure on you if you say how you feel. It doesn’t affect how you play the game or hit the ball.

“You can certainly state your opinion and hold your head high. Putting your head in the sand never solved anything. You have to live with yourself, and is a potential dollar more important than speaking the truth and saying how you feel?

“It never was for me, and I wish there was a little more noise made by the players.”

Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova beat 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova in straight sets to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

The Russian, beaten in three sets by the Latvian at the US Open last year, won 6-1 7-6 (7-4) in one hour and 20 minutes.

Sharapova, 30, was broken when serving for the match at 5-4, but recovered to win the tie-break on Rod Laver Arena.

“I’m happy to get through on a day like this,” the 2008 champion said.

“When she broke back I thought: ‘Oh, it’s going to be three sets again’.”

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Sharapova will next face Germany’s 2016 Australian Open winner Angelique Kerber, who celebrated her 30th birthday by overcoming Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4 6-1.

Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova stormed past Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, winning 6-1 6-1 in 44 minutes, and next will play fellow Czech Lucie Safarova, who beat Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-4.

Madison Keys sailed through against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova even faster, with the American 17th seed winning 6-0 6-1 in 41 minutes.

Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, the 28th seed and 2017 semi-finalist, was defeated 6-3 6-1 by Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

The Belarusian will play Caroline Garcia in the third round after the French eighth seed prevailed 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 8-6 over Czech Marketa Vondrousova.

Elena Vesnina became the 10th of the top 16 women’s seeds to go out by the second round, losing 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 to Japanese 20-year-old Naomi Osaka.

Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, a semi-finalist twice in the past four tournaments at Melbourne, needed three sets to see off Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko as she won 2-6 7-5 6-3.

Radwanska, the 26th seed, will play Taiwanese Hsieh Su-Wei next after the world number 88 shocked Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.