Top tennis players could boycott French Open over prize money: Sabalenka

Top tennis players could boycott French Open over prize money: SabalenkaWomen’s tennis stars say players ‘deserve to be paid more’ in prize money at Grand Slam tournaments.Players will boycott the French Open if their prize money at the clay-court Grand Slam is not increased, women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka has said, with ⁠⁠Coco Gauff voicing support for the drastic step.The threat, issued on Tuesday, deepens a dispute between players and Roland Garros organisers over prize money distribution, even though this year’s tournament offers an increase of about 10 percent for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1m), up by 5.3 million euros ($6.2m) from last year.Several top players released a statement a day earlier, saying they ⁠⁠were set to receive prize money that would likely still be less than 15 percent of tournament revenue, well short of the 22 percent they demanded to match ATP and WTA combined 1000 events.When asked how far players might push their demands, Sabalenka told reporters at the Italian Open: “I think at some point we will boycott it, yeah. I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.“Let’s see ‌‌how far we can get, if it’s going to take players for boycott … Some of the things, I feel like it’s really unfair to the players. I think at some point it’s going to get to this.”However, the world number one struck a hopeful note about ongoing negotiations.“I just really hope that all of the negotiation that we are having, we at some point are going to get to the right decision, to the conclusion that everyone will be happy with,” she added.The prize money boost still leaves Roland Garros trailing other Grand Slams.