Aryna Sabalenka cuts off reporters in French Open press conference - 'That's it'

Aryna Sabalenka was one of several players taking part in a protest on media day at the French Open on Friday, which saw some big names limit their pre-tournament interviews to just 15 minutes. The world No. 1 is among a group of top players who have called on the four Grand Slams to give them a greater share of revenue, contribute to player welfare schemes, and involve them in decision-making. Last month, she suggested they could even boycott the Slams to “fight for their rights”. While a boycott isn’t on the cards right now, Sabalenka and others allotted only 15 minutes to their media duties at Roland Garros, and the four-time Major champion made sure to cut off the English section of her press conference on Friday so she could have enough time for questions in her own language. At the start of her press conference, the 28-year-old made it clear that the protest was nothing to do with a lack of respect for the media. “Well, guys, I feel like the whole point here, it's not about me. It's about the players who are lower in the ranking, who is suffering, and, yeah, it's not easy to live in this tennis world with that percentage that we are earning,” Sabalenka stated. “But as the World No. 1, I feel like, you know, I have to stand up and to fight for those players, for lower-level players, for players who are coming back after injuries, the upcoming generation. I feel like our point is pretty clear and pretty fair to everyone. That's what we are all about.” Addressing her recent suggestions that players could boycott the Slams together, she added: “I stand with my words. We wanted to do it in a respectful way at the beginning, and you guys know how much we respect you and we appreciate you. It's not your decision, it's not about you. It's just we are trying to fight for a fair percentage.” While other stars, including Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, have also been following the same 15-minute time limit, Sabalenka actively went out of her way to stick to the time while addressing reporters and explaining exactly how she had divided her time. “We just wanted to make our point, and we are united, and 15 minutes better than zero, and I'm here to talk to you because I have my respect to you guys. I guess we just do 10 minutes here and five minutes - what is the five minutes that we did, World Feed? That's it,” she said, bringing an end to the English portion of her press conference. “And now it's time for national language, and thank you so much for being here, for asking questions. As I said a thousand times today, I have huge respect, but we know what's happening here, so thank you so much.” Four-time former French Open champion Swiatek also made it clear that Friday’s 15-minute time limit had nothing to do with the media and was instead about doing less for the tournament. She said: “I feel like all of us, we have nothing against media, obviously, and we totally respect you guys. We know how our relationship is important. “But with the tournament, you know, I feel like we will do more when the tournament will do more for us. Not only us, the top players, because obviously we are the ones that have the most contact with you guys, but, you know, for also the lower-ranked players and the whole structure, you know. So it's personally, like, nothing against you guys, but for sure, this is the decision that we made, and we will follow it.”