The grand slam tennis tournaments have agreed to establish a formal Player Advisory Council in a joint move aimed at defusing the ongoing row over prize money.
The Guardian has learned that an agreement on the joint venture has been reached and could be confirmed on Wednesday as part of US Tennis Association’s announcement of this year’s US Open prize money, which sources involved expect to top $100m (£74m) for the first time.
The four slams have been in dispute with the leading players for almost 18 months, with top stars including Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka demanding a greater share of tournament revenues as part of a wider overhaul of the sport’s finances and operations that would also see the major tournaments make contributions to player welfare and offer meaningful player representation.
After failing to achieve a breakthrough, the world’s top 10 male and female players took direct action in withdrawing from some of their contracted media activity at this year’s French Open in May, although a similar boycott planned for Wimbledon the following month was cancelled after last-minute negotiations.
The players are demanding that the slams match the ATP and WTA tours in allocating 22% of their revenues to prize money, whereas the £64.2m on offer at Wimbledon was about 14.4% of the total money made at the championships.
The slams remain under significant pressure to deliver an uplift with all eyes on the USTA, who are under the new leadership of the former Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley.
The US Open, which begins on 30 August, has traditionally offered the highest prize money to players, with last year’s fund totalling $90m, and there is widespread expectation in the locker room that the USTA’s allocation will exceed $100m for the first time.
The threat of another media boycott at Flushing Meadow remains on the table if the players are unhappy with the level of prize money, while they are also waiting to discover the finer details of the proposed Player Advisory Council before confirming their position.
A source involved in the negotiations told the Guardian that it was vital for the players to have a say in determining who represents them, how those representatives are selected and the extent of their involvement in the slams’ decision making.
The ATP and WTA tours both have player councils whose members are elected directly by the players for fixed terms of office.
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In addition to extending the media non-cooperation a number of players had threatened to boycott the US Open’s mixed doubles event, which takes place next week and is part of an attempt by the USTA to grow their revenues by turning it into a three-week tournament.
Significantly the men’s world No 1, Sinner, was not among the entrants in the mixed doubles main draw announced on Tuesday, although Sabalenka, the women’s No 1, will take part in a star-studded pairing with Novak Djokovic.
Sinner had entered the mixed doubles last year alongside Katerina Siniakova, but pulled out due to an illness picked up at the previous week’s Cincinnati Open.
