ROME \u2014 Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka believes tennis players should organize a boycott if they don\u2019t start receiving a bigger share of\u00a0tournament revenues\u00a0at the\u00a0Grand Slams\u00a0\u2014 and the likes of Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini are prepared to protest, too.<\/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\u00a0French 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, a four-time Grand Slam champion, said on Tuesday at the Italian Open.<\/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 Sabalenka added on her 28th birthday.<\/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. 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
The players claim their share of Roland Garros revenue has declined from 15.5% in 2024 to 14.9% projected in 2026.<\/p>\n
Gauff, the\u00a0defending French Open champion, cited a landmark new\u00a0WNBA collective bargaining agreement\u00a0reached in March as an example of the benefit of working together.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the things I\u2019ve seen with other sports, usually to make massive progress and things like this, it takes a union,\u201d Gauff said. \u201cWe have to become unionized in some way. … We definitely can move more as a collective.”<\/p>\n
Regarding a boycott, Gauff said, \u201cIf everyone were to move as one and collaborate, yeah, I can 100% see that.\u201d But she added she hasn’t heard of any discussions about a walkout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think there\u2019s a consensus around that this needs to be addressed for all players of all levels, especially the lower-ranked players, too,\u201d Gauff added. “I want to leave the sport better than I found it. If I can say I played my part when I retire, that\u2019s something I can be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rybakina, a two-time Grand Slam champion who won the Australian Open this year, would follow the other players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the majority say we are boycotting, we are not playing, then of course I\u2019m up for it,\u201d Rybakina said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only on the Grand Slams and it\u2019s not only about raising the prize money. A lot of people are not aware that there is taxes which are big. You even make more prize money, but you giving it all to the taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paolini, the Italian who reached the final of the French Open and Wimbledon in 2024, also believed in a boycott 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,\u201d Paolini said, \u201cthat the WTA and I think the ATP are doing.\u201d<\/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
The players’ statement said Roland Garros generated 395 million euros in revenue in 2025, a 14% year-on-year increase, yet prize money rose by just 5.4%, reducing players\u2019 share of revenue to 14.3%.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith estimated revenues of over 400 million euros for this year\u2019s tournament, prize money as a percentage of revenue will likely still be less than 15%, far short of the 22% that players have requested to bring the Grand Slams into line with the ATP and WTA Combined 1000 events,\u201d the players said.<\/p>\n
French Open organizers did not respond to a request for comment after the players issued their statement.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Australian Open\u00a0this year increased the players\u2019 compensation by 16%, and the\u00a0U.S. Open\u00a0prize money last year went up by 20%.<\/p>\n
The French Open starts on May 24 and the singles champions will each receive 2.8 million euros and the runners-up 1.4 million euros. Semifinalists earn 750,000 euros and first round losers get 87,000 euros.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROME \u2014 Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka believes tennis players should organize a boycott if they don\u2019t start receiving a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-649989","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\/649989","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=649989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}