Jannik Sinner implicated in US Open doubles boycott amid player pay

Tension between players and Grand Slam organisers has increased in recent months with threats of a potential boycott emerging ahead of this year's French Open as the likes of Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz all made it clear they were ready to down tools.

Although players didn't go through with those threats, they decided to limit their pre-Roland Garros press conferences in an attempt to bring more attention to the matter.

But once the tournament progressed, the subject took a backseat with the focus on the tennis and there has been no talk of a boycott at Wimbledon with the All England Club announcing a 20% increase in prize money for the grass-court Grand Slam.

Prize money for this year's tournament will be 64.2 million pounds - a record 10.7m pound increase compared to last year - with this year's champion earning 3.6m pounds while those who lose in the first round will go home with a guaranteed 80,000 pounds.

But it still fell short of the 71m pounds players are demanding as they want 22% of total revenue and players are now looking towards the season-ending Grand Slam in New York to up the ante.

According to The Times, players have discussed a possible boycott of the revamped US Open mixed doubles event later this year, with four-time Grand Slam winner Sinner among them.

The hard-court major introduced the new format competition in 2025 with the event taking place the week before the start of the singles draw as several big-name players entered the tournament.

The best singles players in the world usually avoid the mixed doubles tournaments, but Swiatek teamed up with Casper Ruud, Carlos Alcaraz partnered Emma Raducanu, Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper formed a team, Fritz and Elena Rybakina were partners, and Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic shared the court.

It certainly increased the profile of the mixed doubles tournament, but in the end, doubles specialists Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori successfully defended their title as they beat Swiatek and Ruud in the final to earn the $1 million first prize.

The United States Tennis Association will no doubt hope the star players will again sign up for this year's competition, but that is now under threat as players are ready to put more pressure on the four Grand Slams to increase prize money.

Sinner is so far the only player who has been named, but there is no doubt that the list will include several other top stars.

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