PARIS, MAY 22: The bulk of the top-ranked women's and men's players will limit their participation in Friday's French Open media day in a protest against what they see as their unfairly small share of Grand Slam revenue.
Seven of both the women's and men's top ten players -- including number ones Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner -- will take part in the protest. They are demanding more than 22 percent of the revenue from the four flagship tournaments of world tennis, compared to the current figure of 15 percent or less.
For symbolism, the players plan to limit the time they spend with media to 15 minutes, a source close to the players told AFP on Thursday.
Among the leading men, those protesting, in addition to Sinner, include third-ranked Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime (5), Ben Shelton (6), Daniil Medvedev (7), Taylor Fritz (8), Alex De Minaur (9), Andrey Rublev (13), Casper Ruud (17) and Jakub Mensik (28th).
Missing from the list were two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (2), who is injured and absent, Novak Djokovic (4) and Alexander Bublik (10)
On the women's side, Elena Rybakina (2), Iga Swiatek (3), defending champion in Paris Coco Gauff (4), Jessica Pegula (5), Elina Svitolina (7), Mirra Andreeva (8), Belinda Bencic (11), Jasmine Paolini (13) and Madison Keys (19) will join Sabalenka.
Women's top 10 players expected to stay out of the protest are Amanda Anisimova (6), Victoria Mboko (9) and Karolina Muchova (10).
The traditional pre-tournament press conferences often last less than 15 minutes, but if they go over, the players will cut them short or cancel the interviews they usually grant immediately afterwards to broadcasters.
The players hope this will put pressure on the Roland-Garros organisers ahead of a meeting between player representatives and officials from the French Tennis Federation (FFT), who organise the tournament. "AFP
