Crushing players’ media protest at Roland Garros

With the match results coming fast and furious (voiding or postponing questions), let’s start with the players’ pre-tournament protest that generated a lot of chatter.

Let’s break it down:

• The players held a small protest last Friday, limiting their media availability at Roland Garros to 15 minutes.

• This move was largely symbolic. It was enough time to avoid a penalty, and many players exceeded their 15 minutes. We are far from being in boycott territory here; a nuclear option is unlikely. And yet this was a rare (and, in my opinion, quite effective) show of player unity.

• Why 15 minutes? Symbolism. According to the player group’s calculations, they receive 15% of the majors’ tournament revenues. They have a model to take that share to 22% within the next five years.

• Why 22%? That is – again, according to their calculations – what the joint ATP/WTA Masters Series events bring in from their gross revenues.

• Almost every top player is on board here. Note that this has nothing to do with the PTPA, the organization that filed a federal lawsuit against the tours last year. This is another effort, led by Larry Scott, the former head of the WTA and before that an ATP player (and most recently the Pac-12 commissioner).

• Almost all the top players (Novak Djokovic is a good-natured exception – more about him below) are in this together. Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner, the current number 1, are active in this group. I was told that Sinner – hardly a confrontational type – felt particularly disrespected. He was among the top players to join majors in 2025. I was told that the tournaments were saying all the right things at the meetings, but when the French federation not only ignored the player model, but actually decreased the players’ share of revenue spread from 2025 to 2026, which spurred players into action.

• Pause to note the difference between raw numbers and percentages. Yes, the prize money increases every year, sometimes by more than 10%. Yes, players will earn approximately $100,000 if they lose in the first round. Singles winners earn between $3 million and $5 million for title runs. That sounds like a nice bit of change. Then you see that, for example, Wimbledon has increased the prize money, but that this has actually happened reduced the percentage of gross revenue that goes to players, and the position of the players becomes more understandable.

• Why are the players proposing a five-year timeline? The players realize that they will not go from 15% to 22% in one year. That is untenable. They also want to lock in a revenue-sharing model before Wimbledon’s 2031 expansion, which could easily push combined tournament revenues above $1 billion.

• Back to the protest. Did it work? Absolute. By the end of the weekend, Roland Garros had promised that they will present a counter-proposal for 2027 before Wimbledon starts. Wimbledon and the US Open requested meetings with the player group during the second week of Roland Garros. Wimbledon will announce its 2026 purse in early June, so the All England Club will hope to avoid the public relations bruise of Roland Garros. Then comes the US Open, which is perhaps the most vulnerable. The USTA recently started one “historic” $800 million construction project. (You find almost $1 billion for more suites and club seats, but you can’t pay us, the talent, anymore?) And the tournament’s mixed doubles match is low-hanging fruit for angry players to target.

• It didn’t go unnoticed that Djokovic, who was of course a co-founder of the PTPA, was absent from this protest, but don’t read too much into it. Djokovic was asked about it at his press conference and quickly expressed his support for the players. I don’t know this for sure, but consider this an informed opinion. Djokovic essentially thinks: It’s someone else’s turn. I started down this road. I invested my own money, I fought the good fight. I banged my head against the wall of the establishment for years. I support you in theory, but at this stage of the game I have to ration my physical and psychological energy. I’m exhausted, kids! Someone else takes over.

Question and answer

I’m sorry, but the multiple rows of empty first class seats at Roland Garros are simply unacceptable. WTF?

EvDog

• The field is more than full, but you wouldn’t know that at home, because the first seats behind the baseline are almost empty.

We usually joke that lunch is sacred here, but this year it’s the heat. It’s unbearable to watch tennis outside in the shade for hours.

Roland Garros refusing full electronic calling in 2026 because “the clay leaves marks” is the most aggressive French thing imaginable.
At any other major tournament, “We have millimeter-accurate technology.”
The French Open: “Pierre will inspect the dirt.”

Marty, A

• The conventional wisdom was that when tournaments said they were dissatisfied with the precision of the technology, what they really meant was that they were dissatisfied with the price of the technology. But the price of technology has fallen, as technology has, and I suspect that electronic calling is now no more expensive than calling people.

Hi Jon; One diplomatic controversy that seemed forgotten during President Trump’s recent visit to China: What ever happened to Peng Shuai? My internet searches revealed little recent news. Any idea where she is and how she is doing?

Ted Cornwell, Minneapolis

• This remains a major blemish, a mystery and a missed opportunity in tennis. When I ask this question, the answer usually starts with “I hear,” implying that no one has had direct contact. Nearly five years have passed and a once prominent athlete has disappeared or been disappeared. If this were a looming, uncomfortable issue somewhere else in the world, wouldn’t the national federation target her, make her an ambassador at a tournament and have her award the winner’s trophy?

Jon,

Is it just me or are players barfing on the field more than they used to? When [Pete] Sampras dug into the flower pots near the [1996] US Open, it was a big deal! But now I’ve seen it [Frances] Tiafoe, Djoker and now Sinner are shaking their heads on the court, all quite recently. What’s going on?

P.

• As indelicate as this topic is, I don’t mind it because it breaks the stereotype that tennis is a wimpy sport. We know, of course, that the opposite is the case. I remember Ons Jabeur once had a match point at Wimbledon, but ended up in the storm drain first. She looked out of sorts and then shut down (former Wimbledon champion) Garbiñe Muguruza. Afterwards she was asked about it and it was basically explained to her that this is how she discharges (no pun intended).

Tennis, especially at the highest level, is brutal. It is a sustained, physical battle in heat that requires extreme conditioning. And there’s the overlay of mental stress from an individual sport.

Hey Jon,

Have you visited the WTA website lately? WHAT. A. MESS. You can’t find a draw to save your life. There are no fewer than two pop-ups on the homepage. The groups of videos are given random titles such as ‘WTA Spotlight’
and “Need to see action.” But then there’s actually a nearly identical group of videos titled “Must-Watch Stories.” Did the WTA actually pay for that website or was it donated by an unreliable source? Asks for a friend.

Thank you.
Charlie, DC

• There is so much to like about the WTA. Maybe next week I’ll discuss the WTA leading the women’s sports revolution. (To pick a name, Hailey Baptiste, will earn more one tournament than most WNBA players earn in a season, even after this collective bargaining agreement. Why don’t we talk more about tennis’ place in the women’s sports revolution?)

But hey, let today’s discussion be about a website that embodies one of the few universally agreed upon themes of a polarized world. It’s terrible. It diminishes women’s tennis. It’s not worthy of the players. From a media perspective, simple information is difficult to access. There are maddening glitches. There is no excuse for this.

PLEASE NOTE: HAVE A GOOD WEEK EVERYONE, AND ENJOY ROLAND GARROS!

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