Aryna Sabalenka has done what no reigning women's world No. 1 has done before: said the word out loud. Speaking on the sidelines of the Italian Open in Rome on her 28th birthday, the Belarusian raised the possibility of a Grand Slam boycott if the four majors continue to refuse a meaningful increase in the share of revenue that flows to players.
"I think at some point we will boycott it," Sabalenka said. "I feel like that's going to be the only way to fight for our rights."
The comments arrive at a moment of sustained pressure on the Grand Slam circuit. A group of more than 20 of the highest-ranked players on both tours, including Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff, have signed letters to the four majors challenging the percentage of revenue they receive. The current figure at Roland Garros sits at a projected 14.9 percent for 2026, down from 15.5 percent in 2024. Players see that trajectory as the wrong way around.
Sabalenka was direct about the leverage she believes the players have but have not yet been willing to use.
"Without us, there wouldn't be a tournament and there wouldn't be that entertainment," she said. "I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage."
Gauff has been one of the loudest voices on the men's and women's tours pushing the case publicly, and she has framed the fight as something larger than the top earners. The reigning French Open champion has repeatedly cited the financial reality of life ranked outside the top 100 — a reality where, on her telling, even being one of the 200 best players in the world is not a guarantee of stability.
"It's not about me," Gauff said this week. "It's about the future of our sport and also, like, the current players who aren't getting I guess as much benefits maybe as even some of the top players are getting."
Gauff went further when asked about a possible structural answer.
"I definitely think, from the things I've seen with other sports, usually to make massive progress it takes a union," she said. "We have to become unionized in some way."
The American also made clear that the appetite for collective action is no longer hypothetical.
"Yeah, if everyone were to move as one and collaborate, yeah, I can 100% see that," Gauff said when asked about a potential boycott.
The Roland Garros prize-money pool has grown in absolute terms over recent years, but the players' counter-argument is that revenue from broadcast deals, sponsorship and ticketing has grown far faster. The four majors collectively share an estimated billion-dollar pie that the player groups argue is structured around them but does not pay them.
Sabalenka was careful not to attack Roland Garros in isolation. The boycott threat applies across the four Grand Slams, all of which the player group has written to. But the timing of her comment — five days before the Italian Open's main draw, less than three weeks from the start of Roland Garros — landed sharply.
The four majors have so far declined to engage publicly with the threat. Behind the scenes, sources on both tours describe the conversations as constructive but unresolved. Whether Sabalenka's intervention pushes the discussion to a faster resolution, or hardens the tournaments' position, will become clearer in the days before the Roland Garros main draw is announced.