Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, number 1 in the world, declared her willingness to boycott Grand Slam tournaments to obtain a better division of revenue, as requested by several players.
“We put on the show. Without us, there would be no tournaments, there would be no entertainment. I think we deserve to be paid more,” said Sabalenka at a press conference two days before her debut at the WTA 1000 in Rome.
“At some point we will have to resort to a boycott, if it is the only solution to defend our rights”, added the tennis player, who denounced that some of the conditions in the Grand Slams “are truly unfair” for tennis players.
In April 2025, the main players on the ATP (Professional Tennis Players Association) and WTA (Professional Tennis Players Association) circuits signed a letter sent to the organizers of the four Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open), in which they asked for a better distribution of revenue, with an increase in the share allocated to athletes to 22%.
On Monday (4), some tennis players, including Sabalenka and the number 1 on the men’s circuit, the Italian Jannik Sinner, lamented the fact that, although the organizers have increased the total prize pool for the 2026 edition (+9.6%, up to 61.7 million euros/R$357.8 million), “the part allocated to male and female players will probably remain below 15%, a far cry from the 22% request”.
Another of the stars of the women’s circuit, Polish Iga Swiatek, declared a few days ago that the boycott would be “a slightly extreme solution”.
“The most important thing is to communicate and dialogue with the organizers, to negotiate. We hope that before Roland Garros there is the possibility of holding a meeting for this”, said the current number 3 in the world.
