2 weeks ago
The world’s apical players are readying to protestation complete prize money by reducing their media appearances astatine nan French Open arsenic their nationalist conflict pinch nan expansive slams intensifies.
Players selected to return portion successful Friday’s opening property convention astatine Roland Garros will locomotion retired aft 15 minutes, symbolising that nan slams allocate an mean of 15% of their revenues to prize money. The remainder of nan tie will garbage to behaviour further interviews pinch nan tournament’s main media authorities partners, TNT Sports and Eurosport.
A root adjacent to nan players said that aft nan French Open confirmed this period this year’s prize cookware will beryllium €61.7m (£52.6m), locker room talks person led them to respond pinch what they described arsenic a “work to norm strategy” successful Paris, pinch their off-court activities to beryllium kept to a bare minimum.
The players are understood to person studied nan tourney rulebook and concluded they will not beryllium fined arsenic agelong arsenic they fulfil their contractual obligations to behaviour a short flash question and reply pinch authorities holders aft each match.
The leading 20 antheral and female players, including Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, person been successful conflict pinch each 4 expansive slams for much than a year. They consciousness they are fixed an insufficient stock of each tournament’s expanding revenues, while they person besides demanded enhanced use and pension provisions and a greater opportunity successful determining tourney schedules.
After nan French Open’s prize money announcement, Sabalenka and Gauff raised nan imaginable of players boycotting nan expansive slams during interviews conducted astatine nan Italian Open successful Rome, though Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu distanced themselves from talk of a strike.
The French Open prize money has risen by 9.5% this year, pinch nan men’s and women’s winners to person €2.8m, but nan players are unhappy nan summation is acold much humble arsenic a percent of tourney revenues. While Roland Garros’s income accrued by 14% to €395m past year, prize money roseate by 5.4%, reducing players’ stock of gross to 14.3%.
Since nan conflict first became nationalist past twelvemonth nan players person been calling connected nan slams to lucifer nan 22% stock of gross paid by nan ATP and WTA tours.
The players are being advised by nan erstwhile ATP circuit subordinate and ex-WTA main executive Larry Scott, who is owed to clasp talks connected Friday pinch nan French tennis federation president, Gilles Moretton, and nan Roland Garros tourney director, Amélie Mauresmo.
Meetings pinch representatives of Wimbledon and nan US Open are expected to return spot later successful nan tournament. Wimbledon will soon go nan players’ attraction pinch nan All England Club owed to denote their prize money successful nan 2nd week of June. While nan prize money will summation from past year’s £53.5m nan announcement is improbable to fulfill nan players, who consciousness they are being trim retired of nan immense maturation successful revenues successful SW19.
The All England Club’s income from Wimbledon has accrued from astir £165m successful 2015 to much than £420m past year, while nan prize money connected connection has doubled £26.5m to £53.5m complete nan aforesaid period, a 20% driblet successful nan players’ stock of tourney revenues.
The players are understood to beryllium peculiarly agitated astir Wimbledon, arsenic nan All England Club are readying to summation capacity by an other 10,000 spectators each time if their projected description takes place, and protests could return spot during this summer’s Championships.
