ROME (AP) \u2014 Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka believes tennis players should organize a boycott if they don\u2019t start receiving a bigger share of tournament revenues at the Grand Slams.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka and fellow No. 1 Jannik Sinner were among leading players \u2014 most of them ranked in the top 10 \u2014 who issued a statement on Monday expressing \u201cdeep disappointment\u201d over the French Open prize money.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout us there wouldn\u2019t be a tournament and there wouldn\u2019t be that entertainment. I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage,\u201d Sabalenka said on Tuesday at the Italian Open as she celebrated her 28th birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think at some point we will boycott it. I feel like that\u2019s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
The players are also seeking better representation, health options and pensions from the four Grand Slam tournaments: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
French Open organizers announced last month they were increasing overall prize money by about 10% for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1 million), with the total amount up 5.3 million euros from last year.<\/p>\n
But the players\u2019 statement said \u201cthe underlying figures tell a very different story,\u201d claiming they will receive a smaller share of tournament revenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers\u2019 share of Roland Garros tournament revenue has declined from 15.5% in 2024 to 14.9% projected in 2026,\u201d the players said.<\/p>\n
Iga Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion, said \u201cthe most important thing is to have proper communication and discussions with the governing bodies so we have some space to talk and maybe negotiate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully before Roland Garros there\u2019s going to be opportunity to have these type of meetings and we\u2019ll see how they go,\u201d Swiatek added. \u201cBut boycotting the tournament, it\u2019s a bit extreme kind of situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
French Open organizers did not respond to a request for comment after the players issued their statement.<\/p>\n
Jasmine Paolini, the Italian who reached the final of the French Open and Wimbledon in 2024, also suggested a boycott could be an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re all in agreement and I think we are \u2014 the men and the women are united right now \u2014 it\u2019s something we could do,\u201d Paolini said.<\/p>\n
Paolini added that the WTA and ATP Tours \u2014 which organize all of the other tournaments \u2014 have done more than the Grand Slams to provide players with benefits, such as maternity leave, and retirement plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that the Slams are not doing,” Paolini said, \u201cthat the WTA and I think the ATP are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The French Open starts on May 24.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/p>\n
Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROME (AP) \u2014 Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka believes tennis players should organize a boycott if they don\u2019t start receiving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-649411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649411","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=649411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}