Tennis stars plan French Open media protest over prize money share

The world’s top tennis players are planning a media protest at the French Open over prize money, escalating their public dispute with the four grand slam tournaments.

Players selected for Friday’s opening press conference at Roland Garros will walk out after 15 minutes, symbolizing that the slams allocate an average of 15% of their revenues to prize money. The rest of the draw will refuse additional interviews with main media rights partners TNT Sports and Eurosport.

A source close to the players said that after the French Open confirmed this month its prize pot would be €61.7 million (£52.6 million), locker room talks led them to adopt what they described as a “work to rule strategy” in Paris, keeping off-court activities to a minimum.

The players are understood to have studied the tournament rulebook and concluded they will not be fined as long as they fulfill contractual obligations to conduct a short flash interview with rights holders after each match.

The leading 20 male and female players, including Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, have been in dispute with all four grand slams for more than a year. They say they receive an insufficient share of each tournament’s increasing revenues and have demanded enhanced welfare, pension provisions and a greater say in schedule determination.

After the French Open’s prize money announcement, Sabalenka and Gauff raised the possibility of boycotting the grand slams during interviews at the Italian Open in Rome, though Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu distanced themselves from talk of a strike.

The French Open prize fund rose by 9.5% this year, with winners receiving €2.8 million, but players are unhappy the increase is far more modest as a percentage of tournament revenues. Roland Garros’s income increased by 14% to €395 million last year while prize money rose by 5.4%, reducing the players’ revenue share to 14.3%.

Since the dispute became public last year, players have called on the slams to match the 22% revenue share paid by the ATP and WTA tours.

The players are being advised by former ATP player and ex-WTA chief executive Larry Scott, who is due to hold talks Friday with French Tennis Federation President Gilles Moretton and Roland Garros tournament director Amélie Mauresmo.

Meetings with representatives of Wimbledon and the US Open are expected later in the tournament. Wimbledon will soon become a focus, with the All England Club due to announce prize money in the second week of June. While the fund will increase from last year’s £53.5 million, the announcement is unlikely to satisfy players who feel cut out of huge revenue growth at SW19.

The All England Club’s Wimbledon income increased from about £165 million in 2015 to more than £420 million last year, while prize money doubled from £26.5 million to £53.5 million over the same period — a 20% drop in the players’ share of tournament revenues.

The players are understood to be particularly agitated about Wimbledon, as the All England Club plans to increase capacity by 10,000 spectators daily if a proposed expansion proceeds. Protests could occur during this summer’s Championships.