Coco Gauff has joined Aryna Sabalenka in her call to boycott Grand Slam over prize money dispute.
According to Fox News, Sabalenka said she believes that players should organize a boycott of Grand Slam tournaments if they do not start getting a bigger share of tournament revenues.
The No. 1 ranked women’s player in the world, and men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner were among a group of highly ranked players who released a statement about the French Open's prize money.
Sabalenka said on Tuesday, May 5, at the Italian Open, "Without us there wouldn’t be a tournament and there wouldn’t be that entertainment. I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage. I think at some point we will boycott it. I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights."
Defending French Open champion Coco Gauff cited the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement as inspiration.
Gauff said, "From the things I’ve seen with other sports, usually to make massive progress and things like this, it takes a union. We have to become unionized in some way. We definitely can move more as a collective."
The players are also seeking better representation, health options and pensions from the four Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
The overall prize money for the French Open did increase this year, with a 10% increase for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1 million), with the total amount up 5.3 million euros from last year.
While the pot increased, the players claim they are seeing less of the tournament revenues than last year.
The players claim their share of Roland Garros revenue has declined from 15.5% in 2024 to a projected 14.9% in 2026, and in their statement said the underlying figures tell a different story.
"With estimated revenues of over 400 million euros for this year’s tournament, prize money as a percentage of revenue will likely still be less than 15%, far short of the 22% that players have requested to bring the Grand Slams into line with the ATP and WTA Combined 1000 events," the players said.
The Australian Open this year increased players’ compensation by 16%, and the US Open prize money last year went up by 20%.
