Top WTA women all-in on 15-minute media boycott

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and four-time Roland Garros winner Iga Swiatek on Friday threw their support behind the boycott of mainly international tennis TV underway at the Paris Grand Slam.

Sabalenka explained her support of a player protest to the four majors, which distribute less than 20 per cent of tournament taking to their athletes, a figure well below other sports and a major cause of dis-satisfaction.

The boycott is designed to bring Roland Garros bosses – and others from the Grand Slams – to the negotiating table and will hit hardest at international TV rights holders who have paid millions for access to competitors during the tournament.

“As the World No. 1, I feel I have to stand up and to fight for those players, for lower-level players, for players who are coming back after injuries, the upcoming generation,” Sabalenka said.

“Our point is pretty clear and pretty fair to everyone.  That’s what we are all about.”

Plans for the protest action took shape last week at the Rome Masters, with ATP No. 1 Jannik Sinner joining in the cause.

Sabalenka kept her tone light, but firm, as she explained player thinking on the issue.

“We wanted to do it (the boycott) in a respectful way at the beginning, and

you guys (media) know how much we respect you and we appreciate you. 

“It’s not your decision, it’s not about you. It’s just we are trying to fight for a fair percentage.”

Sabalenka let her pre-event media on Friday run long (10 minutes was designated for print media, 5 for T) and said she is not sticking to an actual schedule.

“I’m not on the clock, but we just wanted, you know, to make our point, and we are united, and 15 minutes better than 0, 

“I’m here to talk to you because I have my respect to you guys. I guess we just do 10 minutes here and 5 minutes – what is the 5 minutes that we did, World Feed? That’s it.”   

Third-ranked Swiatek, winner of four of the last six Paris editions, echoed the logic of Sabalenka but added that she is maintaining the 15-minute limit for her media conferences.

 “We will do more (for the event) when the tournament will do more for us. Not only us, the top players, but for also the lower-ranked players and the whole
structure.

“This is the decision that we made, and we will follow it.”

The Pole added: “It’s hard to know what’s gonna happen in the next weeks. It 

also depends on how the tournaments will react.

“We want to push a bit more to get what we need and to get the tournaments
being more open for the conversations.”