ROME — Aryna Sabalenka, the women’s tennis world No. 1, thinks that stars will eventually boycott Grand Slams due to disputes over prize money and player representation.
Over the weekend, a group of leading ATP and WTA players that has been pressuring the Slams for more than a year expressed “collective disappointment” at this year’s French Open prize money, because of the overall share of the tournament’s revenue it represents.
During a news conference Tuesday ahead of the Italian Open, Sabalenka said “at some point we will boycott” the four biggest tournaments in the sport.
“I feel like that’s going to be the only way to kind of, like, fight for our rights,” the 28-year-old Belarusian said.
“Let’s see how far we can get. If it’s going to take players for boycott. I feel like nowadays, we girls can easily get together and go for this because some of the things I feel like it’s really unfair to the players. I think at some point it’s going to get to this.”
The organizers of Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. Opens were not immediately available for comment on Sabalenka’s statement.
The French Open’s 2026 prize pool is up by 9.5 percent from 2025, to a total of €61.7 million ($72.3 million). This will come in at 15 percent of the French Open’s projected revenue, according to the group’s estimates. That’s a proportion the players deem to be well below what they want from the four majors.
Joint ATP and WTA Tour events award 22 percent of revenue to the players, while many U.S. team sports set an even higher mark, with players in the NFL, NBA and MLB receiving close to 50 percent of league revenues.
“As Roland Garros looks to post record revenues, players are therefore receiving a declining share of the value they help create,” a statement circulated by the player group said. It was attributed to the 20 signatories of an initial letter sent to the four majors in March 2025, including Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff.
“While other major international sports are modernising governance, aligning stakeholders, and building long-term value, the Grand Slams remain resistant to change. The absence of player consultation and the continued lack of investment in player welfare reflect a system that does not adequately represent the interests of those who are central to the sport’s success.”
In a statement sent to The Athletic following the players’ latest communication, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) said it “remains fully committed to ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders in global tennis, including speaking directly with individual players. It will continue working to improve overall player conditions, in line with its responsibilities and its model.”
The group of players sent their first letter to the Slams in March last year, followed by a second in July, pushing for three key areas of reform: prize money to represent a greater proportion of revenues; contributions to player welfare, and greater consultation and representation, with the formation of a Grand Slam Player Council.
Despite meetings with the tournaments during last year’s majors, progress has been elusive, and players have been reticent to discuss forming a council before discussions over prize money have met their expectations.
Earlier on Tuesday, the world No. 3 and six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Świątek said she hadn’t heard of a possible boycott, describing it as an “extreme” option, but she pointed too to the power of the player collective.
“I think we have good communication between us,” Świątek said in a news conference. “Sometimes if it’s an important topic, we are ready to speak together.
“I think the most important thing honestly is to have proper communication and discussions with the governing bodies so we have some space to talk and maybe negotiate. Hopefully before Roland Garros there’s going to be (an) opportunity to have these types of meetings and we’ll see how they go.”
Ben Shelton, the American world No. 6, said in an interview Tuesday that “it’s important for us players that we at least get a seat at the table to talk about these things. That’s something that’s been lacking in our sport, especially from the Slams and probably the part that makes us the most disappointed.”
Shelton said he did not know about the possibility of a boycott.
There is precedent for players boycotting Grand Slams. In 1973, 81 male players declined to play that year’s Wimbledon in solidarity with Nikola Pilić. Pilić had been barred from the tournament by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (now the I.T.F., the world governing body of tennis that runs all the Grand Slam tournaments) for refusing to play a Davis Cup match for his native Yugoslavia a month earlier. Billie Jean King suggested she would boycott the same year’s U.S. Open if it did not award equal prize money.
The French Open begins Sunday May 24, while the Italian Open, the last big warm-up for Roland Garros, ends Sunday May 17.
