Sabalenka hints at potential Grand Slam boycotts over prize money concerns
Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one in women’s tennis, has hinted that players may consider boycotting Grand Slams if prize money doesn’t increase.
Sabalenka and men’s top-ranked player Jannik Sinner were among several stars who released a statement on Monday criticising the prize money on offer at the upcoming French Open.
Last month, it was announced that Roland Garros would raise its total prize fund by 10% to £53.5 million, which is an increase of £4.6 million from 2025.
The players argue that this increase doesn’t reflect their true share of tournament revenue, which they claim has dropped from 15.5% to a projected 14.9% for the 2026 event.
Coco Gauff said she could see players joining a boycott, while four-time champion Iga Swiatek described it as “a bit extreme”.
Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images
Novak Djokovic praises Aryna Sabalenka after call for boycott
Sabalenka’s comments were put to Djokovic ahead of the Italian Open, and he was quick to throw his support behind her stance.
He said: “I think you’ve been around the tour long enough to I think remember the times when I was a president of the council, when I was also forming PTPA, which is now six years ago.
“So you guys know my position on that. I’ve said it many times. I don’t need to talk about that too long.
Players know that they’ll always have my support, and that’s all.
“The new generations are coming up. I’m 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.
“That’s a true leadership for me and I think she needs to maintain that. I salute that. That’s all I have to say about that.
“We’re all part of the same sport. We all try to elevate the game, whether it’s players, tournaments, governing bodies.
“Unfortunately oftentimes there is a conflict of interest that some people don’t want to address. I think that’s where the players really have the power. I’m always supportive of the stronger player position in the ecosystem.”
On Thursday raised concerns over compensation across tennis’ top events as she prepared for Rome this week.
Djokovic outlines funding problems in tennis
Speaking to the media before the Italian Open, Djokovic was asked for his thoughts on Sabalenka’s remarks.
He replied: “Now is the time to talk about it. I do like the fact that there is more conversations happening on this. It needs to be because players’ position is not where it needs to be with slams, with tours. Just overall it’s not there.
“Hence the reason why I co-founded the players association, PTPA. That was my kind of search for more profound, meaningful solution a little bit outside of a system because the system is set up in such way that it just doesn’t benefit players across all fields.
“You know, also in the past what I notice is many times people would twist particularly my words and say I’m requesting myself for more money, even when I was winning slams. You guys like to put headlines of the Grand Slam winner gets so-and-so, never more in history.
“But we are not talking about the lower-ranked players, the tier one, the ground base level of the tennis players that are struggling. They’re leaving tennis because of no funding.
“We are, I think, the only global sport, if you see all the global sports, I think we’re the only ones that are in this particular situation where we don’t have a certain financial, say, gains or guarantees for the lower-ranked players. I don’t know if it changed since whatever, a few years.
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