Aryna Sabalenka’s suggestions that the top players on the WTA and ATP Tours could boycott Grand Slams over prize money has sent the tennis world into meltdown.
“I think at some point we will boycott it. I feel like that’s going to be the only way to kind of fight for our rights,” said the World No. 1 ahead of her appearance at the Italian Open.
“I feel like the show is on us. I feel like without us there wouldn’t be a tournament and there wouldn’t be that entertainment,” Sabalenka continued.
It’s an opinion that has been mirrored by some of the top players in tennis, including Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff while at the Rome Masters event.
It’s caused a mass debate in tennis, with Mark Petchey and CoCo Vandeweghe criticising Sinner and Sabalenka for their recent words.
The debate has now spiralled further and TalkSPORT’s Simon Jordan has unleashed a furious rant about Sabalenka’s Grand Slam threats.
Speaking on TalkSport, Simon Jordan was far from happy about Sabalenka’s threats to boycott Grand Slams unless prize money was improved.
Jordan believes the four Grand Slam events – the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open – have given the top star’s a platform to become rich and famous.
“If it wasn’t for the tennis tournament they’d have nowhere to play. If there was no Wimbledon, French Open, US Open, or Australian Open, there’d be nowhere to play so it’s a it’s a two-way transaction,” said Jordan on the radio.
“If we didn’t have a tournament that attracted the world’s media and the best players and, you being one of them, you’d have nowhere to play you imbecile. It’s aggravated me because it’s so onedimensional.”
The top players have long been unhappy with the way prize money is dished out at Grand Slams, and they have been in constant discussion with organisers for the last year.
Several of the top players have lined up alongside Sabalenka after her calls for an upcoming boycott.
“If we all collectively agree, then yes. I wouldn’t want to be the only one, but we definitely can move more as a collective,” said Gauff in an Italian Open press conference.
Likewise, World No. 2 Elena Rybakina said she was willing to step away from major competitions in order to help her fellow players.
“If the majority say we are boycotting, then of course I’m up for it,” she said. “It’s not an issue.”
British No. 1, Emma Raducanu, meanwhile, would not be for a boycott.”It gives you something that money can’t and that is what is the most important to me, and what I value the most,” said Raducanu. “I wouldn’t be a part of [a boycott] but each to their own.”
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