{"id":104268,"date":"2025-08-29T00:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T00:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/104268\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T00:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T00:29:07","slug":"aryna-sabalenka-states-the-change-she-wants-to-happen-across-tennis-as-she-labels-current-situation-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/104268\/","title":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka states the change she wants to happen across tennis as she labels current situation &#8216;a joke&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Aryna Sabalenka has enjoyed another fantastic season on the WTA Tour in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The Belarusian star has spent the last 45 weeks ranked number one in the world, maintaining a solid gap to her closest rivals, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/iga-swiatek\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iga Swiatek<\/a> and Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for Sabalenka, despite her dominance elsewhere on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/wta\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WTA Tour<\/a>, she hasn\u2019t been able to win a Grand Slam in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/news\/madison-keys-sends-social-media-message-after-beating-aryna-sabalenka-in-the-australian-open-final\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sabalenka lost to Madison Keys<\/a> in the final of the Australian Open in January, she fell to Gauff in the Roland Garros final five months later.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"655\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2218442330-2-1024x655.jpg\" alt=\"Aryna Sabalenka reacts after losing the 2025 French Open final\" class=\"wp-image-101488\" \/>Photo by Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>As she now looks to defend her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/us-open\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US Open<\/a> title in New York, Sabalenka has called for tennis to make a change, labelling the current situation a \u2018joke\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Aryna Sabalenka says players \u2018deserve more\u2019 prize money<\/p>\n<p>During a sit-down interview ahead of the US Open, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/aryna-sabalenka\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sabalenka<\/a> was asked what she would change in tennis if she was in charge for a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrize money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut not only for the WTA. I think all tennis players deserve to get more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think even if you compare our sport to others, like the NBA, golf, and NHL, if you see the percentage, it\u2019s like a joke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we need to bring this number a bit higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2231705858-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Aryna Sabalenka speaks to the media after beating Polina Kudermetova at the 2025 US Open\" class=\"wp-image-125019\" \/>Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The tennis tours have long been criticized for their failure to share their profits with players.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to other major sports like the ones Sabalenka mentioned, tennis often ranks among the lowest for the \u2018percentage of the sport\u2019s revenues received by players in salaries\/and or prize money\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>During a press conference in Brisbane earlier this year, 24-time Grand Slam champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/novak-djokovic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Novak Djokovic<\/a> had this to say about the revenue split.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just going to state a fact. The pie split between the governing bodies in major sports, all major American sports, like the NFL, NBA, baseball, and NHL, is 50 percent. Maybe more, maybe less, but around 50 percent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOurs is way lower than that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Players clearly think they deserve more, but how much have they earned in 2025 so far?<\/p>\n<p>Top 20 prize-money earners in tennis (2025)<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka and Djokovic have both earned more than $3 million this year, enough to see them rank inside the top 20 across the WTA and ATP Tour.<\/p>\n<p>RankATP\/WTANameNationalityPrize money (2025)1ATPCarlos AlcarazSpanish$10.6 million2ATPJannik SinnerItalian$9 million3WTAIga SwiatekPolish$8.2 million4WTAAryna SabalenkaBelarusian$7.1 million5WTACoco GauffAmerican$5.9 million6ATPAlexander ZverevGerman$4.2 million7WTAMirra AndreevaRussian$4.1 million8WTAMadison KeysAmerican$4 million9ATPBen SheltonAmerican$3.9 million10WTAJasmine PaoliniItalian$3.8 million11ATPTaylor FritzAmerican$3.7 million12WTAAmanda AnisimovaAmerican$3.6 million13ATPNovak DjokovicSerbian$3.4 million14ATPJack DraperBritish$3.3 million15ATPAlex de MinaurAustralian$3.1 million16ATPLorenzo MusettiItalian$2.8 million17ATPCasper RuudNorwegian$2.7 million18ATPHolger RuneDanish$2.5 million19ATPAndrey RublevRussian$2.5 million20ATPKaren KhachanovRussian$2.5 millionTop 20 prize money earners in men\u2019s and women\u2019s tennis (2025)<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, Sabalenka has secured $7.1 million in prize money, while Djokovic picked up over $3 million.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s clearly a lot of money, although that\u2019s not to say Djokovic and Sabalenka aren\u2019t right to complain.<\/p>\n<p>Just because they earn millions of dollars more than the average person doesn\u2019t mean they shouldn\u2019t be given their fair share.<\/p>\n<p>If the money the Grand Slams and other tour events earn isn\u2019t trickling down to the players, then surely something needs to be done.<\/p>\n<p>The likes of Sabalenka and Djokovic have pushed hard for change, as have their rivals.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/news\/leading-atp-and-wta-players-call-for-major-change-across-all-four-grand-slams-with-letter-sent\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">top 20 players sent a letter to the Grand Slams demanding more prize money<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s enough is up for the players to decide\u2026 but the US Open is now offering record prize money in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>2025 US Open prize money (men\u2019s and women\u2019s singles)Winner \u2013 $5,000,000Runner-up \u2013 $2,500,000Semifinalist \u2013 $1,260,000Quarterfinalist \u2013 $660,000Round of 16 \u2013 $400,000Round of 32 \u2013 $237,000Round of 64 \u2013 $154,000Round of 128 \u2013 $110,000<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka and Djokovic will no doubt have their eyes on the $5,000,000 prize, but won\u2019t want to get too far ahead of themselves.<\/p>\n<p>In round three, Sabalenka will play Leylah Fernandez on Friday, August 29, before Djokovic plays Cameron Norrie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka has enjoyed another fantastic season on the WTA Tour in 2025. The Belarusian star has spent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[6005,49,48,82,593,4306],"class_list":{"0":"post-104268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-aryna-sabalenka","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}