Novak Djokovic Clarifies His Involvement In French Open Protest With Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff & More

Ever since the French Open announced its prize money structure, several top players have rasied their concerns with the revenue plan. With tensions continuing to grow and no concrete resolution in sight, reports have now emerged suggesting that players are considering a major protest during the tournament, potentially marking one of the biggest collective actions the sport has seen in years. Amid the controversy, Novak Djokovic also stepped forward to clarify his stance on the issue.

“I was not part of the process, plan or decision making. So, I’m not part of that at all and I can’t comment on that,” Djokovic confirmed in a press conference on his 39th birthday. However, he did add that he won’t stop advocating for players and said, “What I can keep doing is advocating for players, like I always did. Not only the top players. The lower ranked as well.”

This statement came as a surprise for many, as Djokovic has always been among the players who have voiced their disappointments over the prize money on offer at Grand Slams. He was also among the players who had recently issued a strong statement against the French Open prize money.

Not to mention that Djokovic also co-founded the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) alongside Vasek Pospisil in 2021. At that time, he had highlighted that their main goal would be to fight and ensure the betterment of rights and conditions for all the players.

The PTPA had even filed a lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, ITF and the ITIA in March of 2025 for allegedly keeping their earnings low by suppressing competition, manipulating prize money structures and enforcing ranking systems that blocked players from collecting alternative earnings. They had also accused the ATP of pressurizing athletes into signing statements, which said that they had no knowledge about the March lawsuit.

The PTPA had achieved moderate success in the lawsuit as Judge Margaret Garnett had agreed that ATP had engaged in “potentially coercive, deceptive or otherwise abusive” behavior. She ruled that an ATP official had tried to sway both Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton. She then banned the ATP from “retaliating, or threatening retaliation” against any player involved in the lawsuit.

Despite working a lot with the PTPA for almost five years, Djokovic had decided to completely step away from the organization earlier this year in January. Turns out that the World No. 4 wasn’t in agreement with the entirety of the lawsuit that the PTPA had filed against tennis’ governing bodies and thus, decided to break all the ties that he had with them.

Coming back, while Djokovic has opted to stay out of the rumored player protest, Taylor Fritz is the latest prominent star to speak out on the matter. He feels that the Grand Slams are being “disrespectful” by constantly ignoring the players’ demands.

“We have been pretty patient with our requests. It’s disrespectful that we have been ignored,” he said when asked about the protest.

If the players go ahead with the protest at the Roland Garros, then they are likely going to leave news conferences after just 15 minutes. According to a source, they will also not be attending any interviews with the media at the Grand Slam and the tournament’s main rights holders, TNT Sports and Eurosport.

According to a report by The Guardian, the players only plan on attending the mandatory flash interviews that take place after the matches. They won’t be facing any fines as long as they are a part of these brief post-match interviews.

This media protest is the latest move of the players to pressure the four Grand Slams to increase their prize money by a significant amount. The controversy had first erupted last year when a collection of the top 10 ATP and WTA players had sent a letter to the four majors, demanding an increase in the prize money.

As the players reportedly look set to stage a protest at the French Open, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has finally broken their silence on the matter and has raised concerns about the situation.

The FFT is extremely concerned about the rumored media protest

A spokesperson from FFT believes that this protest will have an impact on not just the media and broadcasters, but the entire tennis community as well.

“We regret the players’ decision, which impacts all the tournament’s stakeholders: the media, broadcasters, the FFT, and the entire tennis community, all of whom follow each edition of Roland-Garros with great enthusiasm,” the spokesperson said via a text message.

He/she also emphasized that the FFT is willing to maintain close ties with the players and has scheduled a meeting to address the issue.

“The FFT recognizes the importance of the players’ contribution to the tournament’s success, and wishes to maintain close ties with them. In early May, it proposed a meeting that will take place on Friday, 22 May, with some of their representatives,” the spokesperson added.

With spokespersons from both Wimbledon and the US Open yet to respond to the players’ demands, it is expected that additional meetings will take place between the representatives of the two Grand Slams in the coming months.

Will the Grand Slams give in to the demands and announce a higher increase in prize money, or will the players go ahead with their protest in their coming tournaments? Let us know what you think in the comments!

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