Grand Slam Prize Money Row: John McEnroe Backs Player Boycott Amid Growing Tennis Protests

American tennis legend, John McEnroe believes that tennis stars must protest and boycott major tournaments like the Grand Slams to receive a greater share of the tournament’s revenue. Some of the star players like Aryna Sabalenka, and Jannik Sinner limited their time with the media at the Roland Garros and the Wimbledon this year in a pointed protest, as players target 22% share of the Grand Slam tournament revenue by 2030.

Speaking at the Laver Cup held in London recently, McEnroe said players may have to take a drastic action - “I am going to say this - they should be partners in the majors. Number one. The fact that they are not causes friction, to me, they are getting such a small part of the revenue. I am hopeful and I am sceptical. You have got to have a little bit of hope, or it won’t happen. But I am sceptical because nothing changes, it seems, or very little.

I am a backseat driver now. I am commentating on a match, so it’s a lot easier than playing, but I still enjoy being a part of it. But I understand what the players go through. I have been there, and so my sympathies are with them. I understand that Wimbledon is a great event. It is obviously incredible, and so is the US Open. Australia has done a great job. And the French, all of them have done a great job. But I believe the players should be partners in that success.

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

McEnroe also believes that the fifth set of matches at the majors should be replaced by a tie-break, as the length of contests and late-night scheduling continues to be a pair of unsolved problems, especially after Ben Shelton’s win over Carlos Alcaraz at the US OPen finished at 3.33 am.

He said, “Some of the matches I called went in excess of five hours. You watch what you call football here where they have a penalty shoot-out. Why do they have a penalty shoot-out? Because people are worried about the attention span of some of the fans who will turn off, is my guess.

Otherwise you would just keep playing until a goal is scored, so tennis has to look at that. We finally got to the stage where there are tie-breakers in the fifth set at all four majors, but I still think more needs to be done because it is a great sport we have. You don’t want people playing at 3.30 in the morning.”