By Chris Oddo | @Thefanchild | Friday 4 April 2025
Casper Ruud World No. 6 is, in theory at least, one of the players who co-signed a recent letter sent by the 20 main players of ATP and WTA for four Grand Slams.
This weekend, while playing at UTS in Nimes, France, Norwegian spoke about the importance of the declared letter of the mentioned letter: Increasing the percentage of revenue sharing that players earn in the main tours.
“As a player, I don’t feel like it’s right”, Ruud told AFP. “If you compare to other major sports all over the world – NFL, MLB, NBA – they are closer to the division of 50 percent revenue,” Ruud told AFP. “I don’t think we’ll ever get there. But if we can approach, I think every percentage helps.”
Ruud says he and his peers have remained in the dark what Grand Slams’ operating expenses are, so they do not really have a good gauge of true profit.
“The biggest thing that I don’t think people know enough is the sharing of Grand Slams and where they earn their money or how they distribute their income,” he said.
But Ruud and other players do not appreciate the lack of transparency, or the fact that big decisions that increase revenue and change players’ demands are made without even advising on players.
He mentioned the fact that Roland-Garros and US Open have recently passed into 15-day events.
“Most of them, they make these types of decisions without even talking to the players, looking for their thoughts,” Ruud said. “So there are some things that Slams have done in recent years where we feel like it’s time to react and look for a meeting and then discuss different topics.”
According to AFP, a FFT representative confirmed the letter reception and said they have requested a meeting with players in Madrid, or Roland-Garros, to discuss the issues further. “We responded by proposing a direct, open and constructive meeting, starting from Madrid Open (22 April-May-May), in Roland Garros (May 25-June), or at any other appropriate time,” FFT source told AFP.
