John McEnroe has called for professional tennis players to consider boycotting one or two Grand Slam tournaments as leverage in ongoing negotiations over prize money and revenue distribution. Speaking at the 2026 Laver Cup in London, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion argued that such action represents the only realistic path to securing structural change at the sport's four biggest events.
Why McEnroe sees a boycott as necessary
McEnroe believes the fundamental problem is that players lack genuine partnership status with the Grand Slams despite being central to the value those tournaments generate. According to McEnroe, the current arrangement leaves competitors with too small a share of revenues while giving them minimal influence over how the majors operate. "The players should be partners in the majors. The fact that they're not causes friction — they're getting such a small part of the revenue," McEnroe said at the Laver Cup. "The only way to succeed in doing that, in my opinion, is to boycott one or two of these."
Where the dispute stands
A group of top-10 players recently concluded the public phase of their protest over prize money at the majors, but the underlying debate over player compensation remains unresolved. McEnroe's call for a boycott signals frustration with the pace of voluntary concessions from the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open. A boycott of even a single Grand Slam would mark an unprecedented escalation in the long-running dispute over how tennis revenues are divided between tournaments and the athletes who compete in them.
Sources
- Tennisuptodate.com: "The only way to succeed": McEnroe calls for Grand Slam boycott in prize money fight. Published 2026-09-30.
Reported from public sources.