French Open 2025: Doping cases, lingering lawsuit, players seek more Slam money and more to know

Economic Times

24-05-2025

AP Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
With the French Open set to start on Sunday, an argument could be made that the headlines about tennis lately have been as, or more, intriguing off the court - and in the court of law - than on the court of play. There were the high-profile doping bans served by Jannik Sinner, the man seeded No. 1 at Roland-Garros, and Iga Swiatek, the woman who is the three-time defending champion at the clay-court major. There's the pending class-action suit brought by players against groups that run the sport. And there's an effort by the athletes to get a larger share of revenues from the four Grand Slam tournaments. Yes, there is interest in who is going to win the titles two weeks from now, of course. And there are plenty of storylines connected to such things as whether Swiatek can snap out of her recent run of poor-for-her results, whether Carlos Alcaraz can win a second consecutive championship in Paris, whether Novak Djokovic can grab a record 25th Grand Slam trophy, whether Coco Gauff can grab her second at age 21, and so on. Here is what to know before the competition begin at the French Open: Are tennis players going to get more money from the Slams?
Hard to say yet. This is just at the beginning. The background: Djokovic, Gauff, Sinner and women's No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka were among 20 top players who signed a letter - obtained by The Associated Press in April - that was sent to the heads of the four Slam tournaments, seeking additional prize money, contributions to player welfare programs funded by the pro tours and more say in decision-making. Those events reportedly gave around 10% to 20% of their roughly $1.5 billion in combined revenues to players in 2024. Leaders of the four major tournaments - the French Open, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open - met in Paris with some of the leading players. Jessica Pegula, the 2024 U.S. Open runner-up who is seeded No. 3 in Paris, was not in town in time for the face-to-face session. "I think it went pretty well, from what I understood. Hopefully progress can be made. I know that several top players on the men and women sides were there and were present. We're showing - not just the top players, all of us; but led by a lot of the top players - that we're very unified on this topic," Pegula said. "Getting a higher revenue share based on what the tournaments are bringing in, (and) not just that, but player welfare, for pensions, for bonus pool for the men, (the Slams) don't contribute anything. And that's our issue. They're the four pinnacles of our sport and we're just asking for that to be a lot more equal and a lot more fair." What is new in the suit filed by a group co-founded by Novak Djokovic? In March, the Professional Tennis Players' Association, a group co-founded by Djokovic several years ago, sued the WTA, the ATP, the International Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Integrity Agency in federal court in New York, calling them a "cartel." The players said they don't get enough of the revenues and raised other complaints about how tennis is structured. This week, the four defendants jointly filed a motion to dismiss the class-action antitrust suit, saying the PTPA "is not a proper plaintiff." The WTA also filed a separate motion to dismiss, arguing that the male plaintiffs - including 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios - should not be suing the women's tour, and the female plaintiffs should be compelled to go to binding arbitration. How have Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner played since their doping bans? Swiatek, banned for one month late last year, is going through a real rough stretch for her, failing to reach so much as a final since leaving the French Open last year and sinking to No. 5 in the rankings after three years no worse than No. 2. She's spoken about trying to recalibrate her mindset. Sinner returned at the Italian Open after serving his three-month suspension and promptly reached the title match there before losing to Alcaraz. Despite missing time, Sinner remained at No. 1. Do people expect Carlos Alcaraz to win another French Open title? Alcaraz is seeded No. 2 and while he dealt with some leg injuries that troubled him during the clay season, his performance in Rome makes him a popular pick to win what would be a fifth Grand Slam championship. Who could vie for the women's trophy at Roland-Garros?
With Swiatek on shaky ground lately, there are several women considered candidates to come through with a first title in Paris. That list includes Gauff, the runner-up to Swiatek in 2022 and a finalist at Rome last weekend; Jasmine Paolini, the runner-up to Swiatek last year and the Italian Open champion; the top-ranked Sabalenka, whose best French Open was a semifinal run two years ago; and No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva, who just turned 18 but has won a pair of Masters 1000 titles in 2025.