By Chris Oddo

Thanks to Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill), there was some spirited debate about how the powers that be at the Australian Open should disperse the extra $4 million dollars in prize money that they've committed to handing out at the 2013 Australian Open.

Craig Tiley, the Australian Open Twitter director, has gone on record with his desire to serve the lower-ranked contingent of players (many of whom are barely earning enough moolah to cover their ever expanding travel, physio and coaching expenses), saying "the prize money distribution is going to be geared towards the lower-ranked players. Our focus is to support the players in the earlier rounds, because we believe that we should be able to contribute to helping players make tennis an ongoing and viable career."

Yesterday Cahill sought the opinion of tweeps worldwide, and offered his own opinion on how the cash should be spent. Here are some of the results of the discussion. And, if you missed it live, you can always click on the links in the tweets and send him your own opinions after the fact.

That's the beauty of Twitter: everybody has a voice.

Cahill's belief that the first-round losers should not get a hefty pay increase was an interesting argument, but it was also one that many disagreed with..

@darren_cahill Agree 4 most part, but in a sense even getting into the main draw of a Slam is earning it, no? Not easy to be top 108

— Matt Cronin (@TennisReporters) October 3, 2012

I'm not sure what Ivan Ljubicic was trying to say, but it was nice to hear from him...

@darren_cahill People can't agree even when the money is on the table :-)

— Ivan Ljubicic (@theljubicic) October 3, 2012

I was thinking the same thing. Many first-round losers play there hearts out. Just ask John Isner about the 2011 French Open.

@darren_cahill but what about a qualifier who loses a hard fought 5 setter to a top 10 player. This may be funding his whole year's tour !!!

— Chandra Dev Ramidi (@cdr117) October 3, 2012

. @darren_cahill The players in qualies & who cant get past round 1 need increased prizemoney the most. I think the $$ should go there

— Maria Panova (@notsleeeping) October 3, 2012