The drive of top tennis players fighting for a larger share of prize money has been one of the main storylines leading into the French Open, and one of the top-ranked U.S. female players recently talked in depth about the issue. Jessica Pegula recently appeared on Bloomberg News’ “The Deal” podcast and noted it is “tough” for tennis players to wage a cohesive battle against tournaments in part because they “don’t really have anyone that represents the players.” She said, “We play individually, and I think to that part, it’s really hard to get all of us as individual, independent people all on the same page.” Pegula noted there have been talks about players striking, but doubts anything like that will occur because players “make your money a lot by winning matches.” Pegula: “You don’t get paid a salary or get paid anything for just the year. So I think that always changes everyone’s mind as far as, ‘I have to keep playing. I’m not going to strike, I’m not going to boycott, I’m not going to do all these things.’” Pegula has been out front in trying to get WTA and ATP players to join together in the fight for more revenue going to players, especially from the four Grand Slam events. She said, “I think that’s something that can be done. … It’s going to take a lot of unity between a lot of the top players from the ATP and the WTA side” (“The Deal,” BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/20).
