Women’s tennis stars say players ‘deserve to be paid more’ in prize money at Grand Slam tournaments.

Players will boycott the French Open if their prize money at the clay-court Grand Slam is not increased, women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka has said, with ⁠⁠Coco Gauff voicing support for the drastic step.

The threat, issued on Tuesday, deepens a dispute between players and Roland Garros organisers over prize money distribution, even though this year’s tournament offers an increase of about 10 percent for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1m), up by 5.3 million euros ($6.2m) from last year.

Several top players released a statement a day earlier, saying they ⁠⁠were set to receive prize money that would likely still be less than 15 percent of tournament revenue, well short of the 22 percent they demanded to match ATP and WTA combined 1000 events.

When asked how far players might push their demands, Sabalenka told reporters at the Italian Open: “I think at some point we will boycott it, yeah. I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.

“Let’s see ‌‌how far we can get, if it’s going to take players for boycott … Some of the things, I feel like it’s really unfair to the players. I think at some point it’s going to get to this.”

However, the world number one struck a hopeful note about ongoing negotiations.

“I just really hope that all of the negotiation that we are having, we at some point are going to get to the right decision, to the conclusion that everyone will be happy with,” she added.

The prize money boost still leaves Roland Garros trailing other Grand Slams.

The US Open offered $90m last year, while Wimbledon paid out $72.51m and the ⁠⁠Australian Open a record $80.06m this year.

Gauff calls for players’ union

World number four Gauff said she could “100 percent see” players boycotting a Grand Slam if they took the decision together.

“It’s not about me. It’s about the future of our sport and also the current players who aren’t getting as much benefits, maybe, ⁠⁠as even some of the top players are getting when it comes to sponsorship and things like that,” Gauff said.

“We’re making money off court. When you look at the [players ranked] 50 to 100, 50 ⁠⁠to 200, how much money each Slam makes, it’s kind of unfortunate where the ⁠⁠200 best tennis players are living paycheque to paycheque.”

Gauff also suggested the players must form a union, highlighting how the WNBA basketball players’ union reached a tentative agreement on a collective bargaining deal earlier this year after nearly 17 months of negotiations.

“Just taking what the WNBA accomplished. They also have a union, so I think that helps,” she ‌‌added.

“From the things I’ve seen with other sports, usually to make massive progress and things like this, it takes a union.”

Sabalenka said the players deserved more prize money.

“When you see the number, and you see the amount the players are receiving … I feel like the show ‌‌is ‌‌on us. I feel like without us there wouldn’t be a tournament and there wouldn’t be that entertainment,” Sabalenka added.

“I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage. What can I say?”

With snow-capped peaks tumbling towards the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park is one of the jewels in Colombia’s tourism crown.

But behind the picture-postcard views lies a more sinister reality.

Armed groups are holding local businesses to ransom and terrorising Indigenous communities.

The signing of a 2016 peace deal between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ended more than half a century of war and helped propel a country long associated with druglords and rebels onto the global tourism stage.

Since then, thousands of visitors have poured into the Sierra Nevada each day, trekking through pristine jungle to white-sand beaches or climbing towards Colombia’s mountaintop Lost City, which predates Peru’s Machu Picchu.

Few notice the men in camouflage watching from a distance.

They are members of the Self-Defence Forces of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN), a group of former paramilitaries that controls cocaine trafficking routes in the region and is also involved in illegal gold mining.

Extortion has become another lucrative business for the group. The “Conquistadores”, as ACSN members are often called, demand a cut of the earnings of hotels, tour bus companies and Indigenous communities, whose hand-woven hammocks and bags are snapped up by visitors.

“We are afraid and anxious about the future,” said Atanasio Moscote, the governor of the Kogui Indigenous people, who live high up in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, which the Kogui consider “the heart of the world”.

In February, the government closed Tayrona National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site overlooking the Caribbean, for more than two weeks following threats against park rangers, allegedly issued by the ACSN.

Authorities have accused the group of pressuring Indigenous Wayuu residents in the park to resist a crackdown on illegal activities such as logging.

Together, Tayrona and the Sierra Nevada national parks received more than 873,000 visitors last year.

The influx of tourists marks a dramatic shift from the 1980s and 90s, when the region was a battleground for brutal clashes between paramilitaries and FARC rebels.

Ten years after FARC laid down its arms, the ACSN – founded by a paramilitary leader who was later extradited to the United States – holds sway in much of the area.

In recent months, Colombia’s biggest drug cartel, the Gulf Clan, has tried to muscle in, vying for control and prompting clashes with the ACSN.

Caught in the middle are Indigenous communities “who don’t speak Spanish, and who live off their crops and their traditional knowledge”, said Luis Salcedo, governor of the Arhuaco people, who also live in the Sierra Nevada.

Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president in modern history, included the ACSN in his bid to negotiate the disarmament of all armed groups in the country.

But four years after he launched his “Paz Total” (total peace) campaign, the ACSN still dominates the Santa Marta area, said researcher Norma Vera.

Extortion has now emerged as a key issue in the campaign to elect Petro’s successor in polls starting on May 31.

The Ministry of Defence says it has received more than 46,000 extortion complaints since 2022.

Omar Garcia, president of the hotel association in the coastal city of Santa Marta, a gateway to the Sierra Nevada, said he fears for Colombia’s fragile tourism boom.

“Any news affecting the image [of a destination] and visitor safety makes tourists think twice,” he said.

The average price of petrol in the United States has reached $4.48 per gallon, according to AAA.

The price of a gallon of regular petrol climbed 31 cents in the past week, spiking to an average of $4.48 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association, rising 50 percent since the US-Israel war on Iran began.

AAA’s website listed the price at that rate as of Wednesday, despite US President Donald Trump earlier pausing the military’s “Project Freedom” operation to open the Strait of Hormuz.

The global energy crisis caused by the US-Israel war on Iran has sent the price of crude oil soaring. Crude oil is the main ingredient in petrol. The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage of the Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil normally passes, has been blocked, with oil tankers stranded and unable to deliver the crude.

Many US drivers were hopeful in mid-April when the ceasefire was announced, amid signs that the conflict could be winding down, and petrol prices fell daily for almost two weeks. But as the war continued, petrol prices reversed course and began increasing again.

“There’s a fundamental shortfall that will exist globally, or fundamental struggle to meet that demand that will drive up price,” Rob Smith, director of global fuel retail at S&P Global Energy, told The Associated Press news agency.

“No matter what a government says or what any market person thinks, there is a true kind of upward pressure that’s being exerted on prices every day the Strait of Hormuz is constrained.”

The spike in energy prices has been spurring inflation and economic uncertainty, adding to Trump’s political woes. The US president’s approval rating is hitting record lows amid growing discontent with the war on Iran, recent public opinion polls suggest.

Since the start of the war, Trump and his allies have been trying to frame the hike in petrol prices as a temporary price worth paying to achieve the aims of the military campaign.

However, oil prices do not drop automatically after hostilities stop. Despite the ceasefire reached on April 8, the cost of gas in the US has continued to climb.

The longer the flow of oil is constrained through the Strait of Hormuz, the higher prices will go, and the longer it will take to get back to normal, Smith said.

“There will still be within the industry a risk premium associated with going through that region … The past few months have shown that it’ll be hard to convince shippers and insurance companies that the risk level will be similar to what it was in February [before the war].”