ROME (AP) \u2014 The top tennis players are already upset they’re not receiving a bigger share of tournament revenues at the French Open. Now they\u2019re hoping Wimbledon and the U.S. Open respond to their demands, according to Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n
Fellow No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka said this week the players should consider a boycott.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more about respect. Because I think we give much more than what we are getting back,\u201d Sinner said on Thursday at the Italian Open. \u201cIt\u2019s not only for the top players; it\u2019s for all of us players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinner wouldn\u2019t commit to a boycott.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough to say,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot predict the future in a way. But in the same time I also believe that somewhere we need to start.\u201d<\/p>\n
The players have targeted the upcoming French Open for reducing players\u2019 share of revenue to an alleged 15% \u2014 compared to the 22% at ATP and WTA events like the Italian Open this week.<\/p>\n
The same group of players sent a letter a year ago to the heads of the four Grand Slams seeking more prize money and a greater say in decision-making. Wimbledon increased its 2025 total pot by 7%, the U.S. Open by 20% and the Australian Open in January by 16%.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not nice that after one year we are not even close to conclusion of what we would like to have,\u201d Sinner said. \u201cI truly believe that within 48 hours you have not only a response but you also have a meeting.\u201d<\/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
Wimbledon has not yet announced its prize money for this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in the next couple of weeks we know also the prize money we\u2019re going to have in Wimbledon. We truly hope that it\u2019s going to be better. Then, of course, U.S. Open,\u201d Sinner said.<\/p>\n
Including profit sharing and an end-of-the-year bonus pool, men\u2019s players actually get about 30% of the share of revenues at ATP Tour events like the Italian Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been quiet for a long time and now the time has come to raise our voice,\u201d Sinner added in Italian. \u201cWe\u2019re not asking for 50% \u2014 we wouldn\u2019t even dare \u2014 but right now we\u2019re getting too little.\u201d<\/p>\n
French Open organizers have not responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
Djokovic not involved but lends support<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic announced in January he was cutting ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association he co-founded, and that sued the sport\u2019s governing bodies last year.<\/p>\n
And while the 24-time Grand Slam champion said he has not been involved in the current player protest, he said the \u201cplayers know that they\u2019ll always have my support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new generations are coming up,” Djokovic added. \u201cI\u2019m glad that there is willingness from the leaders of our sport, like Sabalenka, to really step up and really understand the dynamics of how the tennis politics works and understand the nuances and really what needs to be done not only for her benefit and well-being, but for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the big issues affecting tennis governance was that there were seven organizing bodies: The four Grand Slams, ATP, WTA and International Tennis Federation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTennis, as any big global sport, is a big business,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cIt needs to be approached from all sides with willingness to work together and figure out what the formula is.\u201d<\/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 The top tennis players are already upset they’re not receiving a bigger share of tournament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-654083","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\/654083","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=654083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}