The US Open could face a player protest after tennis expert Jon Wertheim claimed there have been ‘rumblings’ that leading players may boycott the tournament’s mixed doubles event amid the escalating dispute over prize money and revenue sharing.
Players such as Jannik Sinner, Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka have been in dispute with the Grand Slams over prize money and revenue sharing since March 2025.
In a letter sent to the four events, the stars demanded greater prize money tied to tournament revenues, increased investment in player welfare initiatives and the creation of a Grand Slam player committee.
At this year’s French Open, many players limited their media duties to just 15 minutes in a bid to send a powerful message.
This was despite the event offering a total prize pot of €61.7 million, representing a 9.53% increase compared to 2025.
Specifically, the players are demanding that the four Grand Slams agree to share 16% of their revenue as prize money, increasing to 22% by 2030.
In addition to limiting their media duties, Sabalenka argued in May that she would be willing to boycott the four tournaments if their demands are not quickly met.
“I think at some point we will boycott it, yeah,” said the world No 1 at the time.
“I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.”
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This year’s edition of Wimbledon increased its total prize money to £64.2 million, falling well short of the players’ reported £71 million demand.
Despite this, the players opted not to limit their media duties during the tournament due to the ‘positive nature’ of their talks with Wimbledon officials.
With the upcoming US Open on the horizon, attention now turns to the season’s final Grand Slam.
Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Wertheim claimed that the American Grand Slam will not “readily agree” to the players’ demands, suggesting that withdrawals from the mixed doubles event would not be ‘fatal’ for the tournament.
“The US Open, USTA, they are not going to agree readily with any sort of revenue sharing model,” analysed Wertheim.
“And yeah, the question is always, what these things is how much leverage do the players have? And there have been rumblings about mixed doubles.
“What I was told is that there are players who are happy to play, who are sort of on a wait list, who haven’t been tapped yet, but if, Jannik Sinner is a name that’s been thrown around, Aryna Sabalenka has been very vocal.
“If those players choose not to play in the mixed event as a form of protest, they’ll still be okay to fill the field. Obviously, you’d rather have the two current world number ones than not, but I don’t think it’s fatal to this mixed doubles event.”
“Remember, too, Serena Williams will be in the draw. Remember, Novak Djokovic too has kind of distanced himself from this group. So if you had Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, and all of my downstairs neighbours, I suspect you’d still be okay.
“But no, I mean, like any negotiation, leverage is part of this, and one thing I think we talked about this at Wimbledon. The players, you know, the media protest is what it is. I don’t know, it’s more of an annoyance than anything else. The tournaments would rather have better publicity, but it’s not fatal.”
