“We haven’t spoken about boycotting”: Alexander Zverev cools the rhetoric, but sharpens the numbers
Asked in Rome about the prospect of a Grand Slam boycott, Alexander Zverev – one of the signatories of the top players’ letter – pushed back on the framing. The argument, he said, is about the revenue share, not the protest.
Alexander Zverev, Rome 2025 | © Tennis Majors
A day after Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic each took questions on a possible Grand Slam boycott, Alexander Zverev tried to lower the temperature. Speaking after his second-round win over Daniel Altmaier in Rome (7-5, 6-3), the German, one of the signatories of the letter sent over a week ago by the top 10 men and top 10 women to the four Slams, declined to endorse the boycott framing brought by Aryna Sabalebka and Coco Gauff – and instead steered the conversation to the numbers underneath it.
“I don’t know. We haven’t spoken about boycotting,” Zverev said when asked by Tennis Majors whether the threat was a route to getting what the players want. “I think it’s a general thing. If you see the revenue share, you see other sports, it’s very, very close to 50/50. A lot of other sports, where we are at 15% for both women and men. That’s something that I think is just frustrating to us players.”
The figure he cited matches the Associated Press’s reporting that the four Slams pay out around 14.3% of revenue to players, against roughly 22% at ATP and WTA 1000 events. Other major team sports in North America operate on revenue-share arrangements close to 50/50 between leagues and players.
What was striking was Zverev’s framing of who the argument is actually for. He explicitly placed himself, Sinner and Alcaraz outside the group that needs the change.
It’s not the top guys. Jannik makes good money. Carlos makes good money. I make good money. If we get a fair share and we get closer to other sports, many more players can make a living from tennis.
“It’s not the top guys. Jannik makes good money. Carlos makes good money. I make good money. It’s also, I think right now, probably 150 players can live from tennis on the male side, and probably even less on the women’s side. If we get a fair share and we get closer to other sports, many, many more players can make a living from tennis. That’s the main goal for us — to push tennis forward, to make it more profitable for many more players, not only the top hundred.”
The closing line was the bluntest. “I think 15% is just not fair to us players. Last year’s final went for (almost) six hours, myself with Carlos went for five-and-a-half hours (in Melbourne this year). I think those kind of matches are worth more than 15%.”
