Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think at some point we will boycott it. I feel like that\u2019s going to be the only way to kind of fight for our rights,\u201d said the World No. 1 ahead of her appearance at the Italian Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the show is on us. I feel like without us there wouldn\u2019t be a tournament and there wouldn\u2019t be that entertainment,\u201d Sabalenka continued.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an opinion that has been mirrored by some of the top players in tennis, including Jannik Sinner<\/a> and Coco Gauff<\/a> while at the Rome Masters event.<\/p>\n It\u2019s caused a mass debate in tennis, with Mark Petchey and CoCo Vandeweghe criticising Sinner and Sabalenka for their recent words<\/a>.<\/p>\n The debate has now spiralled further and TalkSPORT\u2019s Simon Jordan has unleashed a furious rant about Sabalenka\u2019s Grand Slam threats.<\/p>\n Speaking on TalkSport<\/a>, Simon Jordan was far from happy about Sabalenka\u2019s<\/a> threats to boycott Grand Slams unless prize money was improved.<\/p>\n Jordan believes the four Grand Slam events \u2013 the Australian Open<\/a>, Roland Garros<\/a>, Wimbledon<\/a>, and the US Open<\/a> \u2013 have given the top star\u2019s a platform to become rich and famous.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for the tennis tournament they\u2019d have nowhere to play. If there was no Wimbledon, French Open, US Open, or Australian Open, there\u2019d be nowhere to play so it\u2019s a it\u2019s a two-way transaction,\u201d said Jordan on the radio.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we didn\u2019t have a tournament that attracted the world\u2019s media and the best players and, you being one of them, you\u2019d have nowhere to play you imbecile. It\u2019s aggravated me because it\u2019s so onedimensional.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Several of the top players have lined up alongside Sabalenka after her calls for an upcoming boycott.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we all collectively agree, then yes. I wouldn\u2019t want to be the only one, but we definitely can move more as a collective,\u201d said Gauff<\/a> in an Italian Open press conference.<\/p>\n Likewise, World No. 2 Elena Rybakina<\/a> said she was willing to step away from major competitions in order to help her fellow players.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the majority say we are boycotting, then of course I\u2019m up for it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an issue.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n British No. 1, Emma Raducanu<\/a>, meanwhile, would not be for a boycott.\u201dIt gives you something that money can\u2019t and that is what is the most important to me, and what I value the most,\u201d said Raducanu.\u00a0\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be a part of [a boycott] but each to their own.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Aryna Sabalenka labelled an \u2018imbecile\u2019 for threatening to boycott Grand Slams over prize money<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s 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. \u201cI think at some point we will boycott it. I feel like that\u2019s going to be the only way to kind of fight for our rights,\u201d said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}