Tennis World No. 1 Jannik Sinner has echoed the protests by the top tennis players in the ATP and WTA, organised behind an informal alliance called Project RedEye, asking Grand Slams, particularly Roland Garros, for better money prizes, considering the increase this year is lower than it should be given the increase in revenue of the tournament.
Asked about the protests in a press conference before his debut at the Italian Open, Sinner was hesitant about Aryna Sabalenka's belief that players will boycott one of the Grand Slams at some point, saying it's "tough to say", but did say that tennis players aren't getting the respect they deserve.
"It's more about respect. I think we give much more than what we are getting back. It's not only for the top players - it's for all of us players, from men's and women's side", Sinner argued. "The top 10 men and top 10 women, we wrote a letter and it's not nice that after one year we are not even close to a conclusion for what we would like to have.
"Talking in other sports, if the top athletes, they send important letters, I truly believe that within 48 hours you have not only a response but you also have a meeting."
Novak Djokovic's whose union launched a similar protest last year, resulting in prize increases in the US Open and Australian Open (although Djokovic later left the organisation he had founded) is not part of the Project RedEye, but he likes "the fact that there is more conversations happening on this. It needs to be because players' position is not where it needs to be with slams, with tours."