John McEnroe has called for tennis stars to boycott Grand Slam tournaments as he argued players should be “partners” in the four majors.

In March 2025, a group of top ATP and WTA players — including Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff — launched a campaign for players to earn a greater share of revenues generated at the sport’s Grand Slams: the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

The group released a collective statement criticising the prize money offered at the 2026 French Open, and several players participated in a media boycott by limiting the duration of their press conferences at Roland Garros.

During a press conference at the Italian Open in May, Sabalenka asserted that she expected players to boycott Grand Slam events due to the prize money row.

“I think at some point we will boycott it (Grand Slams), yeah,” the former world No 1 said.

“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.”

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Following the 2026 US Open, the player group revealed that the “public phase” of the campaign had ended after an agreement was reached to form a Grand Slam player council.

“Now that a formal council exists to carry this work forward, the public phase of the campaign led by the unified group of top players comes to a close,” the group said in a statement.

“Players reserve the right to re-start the campaign should the council fail to deliver on these aims.”

Speaking to journalists at the 2026 Laver Cup in London, McEnroe argued players must take strong action to succeed in their push for more Grand Slam prize money.

“The players should be partners in the majors,” said the seven-time major champion.

“The fact that they’re not causes friction — they’re getting such a small part of the revenue.

“The only way to succeed in doing that, in my opinion, is to boycott one or two of these.”

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