PARIS (AP) — Ten questions into her pre-tournament news conference as the defending champion at the French Open, Coco Gauff announced she was done.“I have to go. Sorry. I’ll see you guys later,” Gauff said as she got up and walked out.That was about as serious as the protest from top-10 players got at Roland Garros as interactions with reporters were limited to 15 minutes on Friday.The players announced the limitation due to their displeasure about not getting a bigger share of tournament revenues at the clay-court Grand Slam, where play starts on Sunday. Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka had even discussed a boycott.“It shows a lot of us are all on the same page and have kind of a collective action other than just having conversations,” Gauff said. “This is the first real point of action we have done.”Players have criticized French Open organizers for reducing the players’ share of revenue to under 15% — compared to 22% at regular ATP and WTA Tour events.
Djokovic cites LIV Golf exampleThe only player who came near to approaching 15 minutes in the question and answer sessions was record 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, who clocked in at 14 minutes, 48 seconds.But Djokovic, who was celebrating his 39th birthday, said he wasn’t officially taking part in the protest. He still voiced an opinion on the subject, though, pointing to the schism between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.“Golf is a good example of a professional individual global sport that has been through and is still going through very challenging times in terms of the governance and splitting tours and players,” Djokovic said. “Let’s try to be a bit more united and have a unifying voice into finding a better structure and better future for our sport.”
