{"id":668844,"date":"2026-05-27T21:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668844\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T21:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:51:20","slug":"tennis-mailbag-breaking-down-the-players-media-protest-at-roland-garros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668844\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis Mailbag: Breaking Down the Players\u2019 Media Protest at Roland Garros"},"content":{"rendered":"

As it is written, Wednesday is mailbag day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 A reminder that Sports Illustrated now has a free tennis newsletter. Subscribe here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Here is a column<\/a> in praise of Ga\u00ebl Monfils, who played his final French Open match on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 A reminder: Served\u2019s \u201cQuick Served\u201d podcast episodes are coming to you every day from Roland Garros.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In non-tennis news, betting on wars has created a new kind of insider trading: <\/p>\n

Onward \u2026<\/p>\n

With match results coming fast and furious (invalidating or postponing questions), let\u2019s start with the players\u2019 pretournament protest, which generated a lot of chatter.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break it down:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 The players held a minor protest last Friday, limiting their media availability at Roland Garros to 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u2022 This move was largely symbolic. It was enough time to avoid a fine, and many players exceeded their 15 minutes. We are far from boycott territory here; a nuclear option is unlikely. And yet, this was a rare (and, I\u2019d argue, quite effective) show of player unity.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why 15 minutes? Symbolism. According to the players\u2019 group\u2019s math, they are paid 15% of tournament revenue by the majors. They have a model to graduate that share to 22% within the next five years.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why 22%? That is\u2014again, by their math\u2014what the joint ATP\/WTA Masters Series events pay from their gross revenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Virtually every top player is on board here. Note that this has nothing to do with the PTPA, the organization that filed a federal lawsuit against the tours last year. This is a different effort, led by Larry Scott, the former head of the WTA and an ATP player before that (and the Pac-12 commissioner more recently).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Almost all of the top players (Novak Djokovic being a benign exception\u2014more on him below) are together on this. Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner, the current No. 1s, are active in this group. I\u2019m told that Sinner\u2014hardly a confrontational type\u2014has felt especially disrespected. He was among the top players who met with majors in 2025. I was told the tournaments said all the right things in the meetings, but when the French federation not only ignored the players\u2019 model but actually decreased the players\u2019 share of the revenue split from 2025 to 2026, that spurred the players to action.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Pause to note the difference between raw numbers and percentages. Yes, the prize money goes up each year, sometimes by more than 10%. Yes, players make roughly $100,000 for losing in the first round. Singles winners make between $3 million and $5 million for title runs. That sounds like a nice chunk of change. Then you see that, say, Wimbledon, while increasing prize money, has actually reduced the percentage of gross revenue that goes to players, and the players\u2019 position becomes more understandable.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why are the players proposing a five-year timeline? The players realize that they\u2019re not going to go from 15% to 22% in one year. That\u2019s untenable. They also want to lock in a revenue-sharing model before the 2031 Wimbledon expansion, which could easily push combined tournament revenues over $1 billion.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Back to the protest. Did it work? Absolutely. By the end of the weekend, Roland Garros had promised that, before Wimbledon kicks off, they will present a counterproposal for 2027. Wimbledon and the U.S. Open asked for meetings with the players\u2019 group during the second week of Roland Garros. Wimbledon will announce its 2026 purse in early June, so the All England Club is hoping to avoid the Roland Garros public relations bruise. Then comes the U.S. Open, which is perhaps most vulnerable. The USTA recently embarked on an $800 million \u201chistoric\u201d construction project<\/a>. (You find nearly $1 billion for more suites and club seating, but you can\u2019t pay us, the talent, more?) And the tournament\u2019s mixed doubles event is low-hanging fruit for angry players to target.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 It didn\u2019t go unnoticed that Djokovic, who, of course, cofounded the PTPA, was absent from this protest, but don\u2019t read too much into it. Djokovic was asked about it at his press conference and was quick to express his support for the players. I don\u2019t know this for a fact, but consider this an informed opinion. Djokovic essentially thinks: It\u2019s someone else\u2019s turn. I went down this road. I\u2019ve invested my own money, I\u2019ve fought the good fight. I\u2019ve banged my head against the wall of the establishment for years. I support you in theory, but at this stage of the game, I need to ration my physical energy and my psychic energy. I\u2019m exhausted, kids! Someone else take the baton.<\/p>\n

Q&A<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry, but the multiple rows of empty prime seats at Roland Garros are just unacceptable. WTF?<\/p>\n

EvDog<\/p>\n

\u2022 The grounds are beyond packed, but you wouldn\u2019t know that watching at home, because the prime seats behind the baseline are nearly empty.<\/p>\n

Usually we joke that the lunch is sacrosanct here, but this year, it\u2019s the heat. It\u2019s unendurable to sit outside, unshaded, and watch tennis for hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roland Garros refusing full electronic line calling in 2026 because \u201cthe clay leaves marks\u201d is the most aggressively French thing imaginable.
Every other major tournament: \u201cWe have millimeter-accurate technology.\u201d
The French Open: \u201cPierre will inspect the dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marty, A<\/p>\n

\u2022 The conventional wisdom was that when tournaments claimed they were dissatisfied with the precision of the technology, what they really meant was that they were dissatisfied with the price of the technology. But the price of technology has dropped, as happens with technology, and I suspect electronic line calling is now no more expensive than calling lines with humans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hi Jon; One diplomatic controversy that seemed forgotten during President Trump\u2019s recent visit to China: What ever happened to Peng Shuai? My web searches uncovered little recent news. Any insight into where she is and how she is doing?<\/p>\n

Ted Cornwell, Minneapolis<\/p>\n

\u2022 This remains a great stain, a mystery and a missed opportunity in tennis. Usually, when I pose this question, the answer starts with \u201cI hear,\u201d implying no one has had direct contact. We\u2019re nearly five years in, and a once prominent athlete has either disappeared or been disappeared. If this were a looming, uncomfortable issue anywhere else in the world, wouldn\u2019t the national federation trot her out, make her an ambassador at a tournament, and have her present the winner\u2019s trophy?<\/p>\n

Jon,<\/p>\n

Is it just me or are players barfing on court more than they used to? When [Pete] Sampras yakked into the flower pots at the [1996] U.S. Open it was a huge deal! But now I\u2019ve seen [Frances] Tiafoe, Djoker, and now Sinner juke their guts on the court, all fairly recently. What\u2019s the deal?\u00a0<\/p>\n

P.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Indelicate as this topic is, I don\u2019t mind it because it shreds the stereotype that tennis is some wimp sport. We know, of course, it is the opposite. I recall Ons Jabeur once holding a match point at Wimbledon, but first up-chucking into the storm drain. Not looking unmoored by it, she then proceeded to close out (former Wimbledon champion) Garbi\u00f1e Muguruza. Afterward, she was asked about it and basically explained that it\u2019s how she offloads (no pun intended).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tennis, especially at the top level, is brutal. It\u2019s a sustained, physical battle in heat, requiring supreme conditioning. And there\u2019s the overlay of mental stress of an individual sport.<\/p>\n

Hey Jon,<\/p>\n

Have you checked out the WTA website lately? WHAT. A. MESS. You cannot find a draw to save your life. There are no less than two pop-ups on the home page.\u00a0 The groupings of videos are given random titles like \u201cWTA Spotlight\u201d
and \u201cMust See Action.\u201d But then there’s basically an almost identical grouping of videos titled \u201cMust-Watch Stories.\u201d Did the WTA actually pay for that website or did they get the website donated from a disreputable source? Asking for a friend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thanks.\u00a0\u00a0
Charlie, DC<\/p>\n

\u2022 There\u2019s so much to like about the WTA. Maybe next week I\u2019ll discuss the WTA leading the women\u2019s sports revolution. (To pick a name, Hailey Baptiste, will make more in one tournament than most WNBA players make in a season, even after this collective bargaining agreement. Why aren\u2019t we talking more about tennis\u2019s place in the women\u2019s sports revolution?)<\/p>\n

But yes, let today\u2019s discussion be about a website that embodies one of the few universally agreed-upon themes of a polarized world. It\u2019s awful. It diminishes women\u2019s tennis. It is not worthy of the players. From a media perspective, simple information is hard to access. There are maddening glitches. There is no excuse for this.<\/p>\n

ON THAT NOTE, HAVE A GOOD WEEK, EVERYONE, AND ENJOY ROLAND GARROS!<\/p>\n

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