Players have grown increasingly frustrated with how prize money is shared at the Grand Slams, and that tension has already led to protest action in 2026.

At Roland Garros, players staged a media boycott, limiting post-match press access to 15 minutes. Wimbledon was also expected to face a similar response, although the leading players from both the ATP and WTA tours reversed course as the tournament got underway.

Attention is now turning to the US Open, where questions remain over whether any further protest will be staged this year. There have been rumours that some players were discussing skipping the US Open Mixed Doubles, but that does not appear to be the direction being taken.

Jessica Pegula, who serves as a player representative on the WTA Player Council, provided an update from the Cincinnati Open. She said: “I think going into the US Open, we’re still waiting on a prize money announcement, so we haven’t really made any big decisions.

“They have definitely come to the table as far as wanting to change some of the stuff that’s been going on. I don’t know how much, how far they’re willing to.”

The US Open has not yet announced its prize money for this season, even though it is usually among the biggest in the sport. Last year, the event distributed $90 million, with $5 million going to Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka as the champions.

Prize money is often revealed in early August, so the delay may reflect efforts to respond to player pressure and avoid disruption. Players are seeking a Grand Slam distribution of $93.5 million, which is close to what the US Open paid out for the 2025 tournament.

Several leading players are already entered in the US Open Mixed Doubles, which raises the possibility that the Flushing Meadows major could proceed without incident. The tournament begins on Sunday, 23rd August and runs through the men’s final on Sunday, 13 September, with the opening week featuring exhibition matches, mixed doubles, and qualifying.

Jack Draper’s Instagram account seems to have been removed, leaving the former British No 1 without a visible presence on the platform.

The account had more than 500,000 followers and was still active last week. In recent days, both the Cincinnati Open and Britain’s LTA had tagged the 2025 Indian Wells Open champion in posts. That no longer appears to be possible, as the link to Draper’s profile is now disabled. When the handle is clicked, it shows: “Sorry, this page isn’t available. The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.”

There has been no explanation for the decision. That is notable given the value sponsors would place on a player with such a large following, particularly one whose profile has grown alongside his rise to former world No 4.

His social media reach matters even more because his time on court has been limited over the past year. Draper has been dealing with a bone bruising problem in his arm and has struggled to find a way through it.

His recent results have underlined the issue. He broke down in tears on court as he lost at the Montreal Masters earlier this month, and he was again visibly affected in his defeat to Martin Landaluce at the Cincinnati Open earlier this week.

There has still been no official update on whether Draper will play the US Open later this month. He is scheduled to partner Jessica Pegula in the mixed doubles a week before the main draw starts.

If he cannot complete a best-of-three-set match at a Masters event, a Grand Slam, with its five-set demands, would appear an even bigger ask.

Leading injury prevention and athlete welfare expert Stephen Smith has already described the situation as difficult to manage. “I wouldn’t say it’s uncommon,” said Smith. “What we saw at the Canadian Open was genuinely difficult to watch. He’s been navigating that bone bruising injury in his left arm for a significant period, and bone bruising is notoriously slow to resolve.

“What would happen if you keep overloading that is it could end up resulting in a stress fracture, as well. You can’t accelerate that biological process too much. You manage your load around it.

“The drop in his serve speed during the match, they were pretty visible data points that he was having an issue.

“When a player’s serve speed falls that much from their baseline, that’s a flag that something is limiting their ability to generate force through the kinetic chain.

“So, for his comeback to continue, I think the priority has to be honest load monitoring — not just how the arms feel day to day.

“I think there would need to be very, very serious quantification of load, and not just time on court, but the actual physical demands — speeds, impacts, changes of direction, racket speed.”

Draper may still choose to play the mixed doubles at the US Open, since it would be less physically demanding and would also offer sponsor exposure. He signed a lucrative clothing deal with Vuori last year, reported to be worth several million pounds a year, but injuries have limited the number of matches he has been able to play in that kit.

Elena Rybakina has reduced the distance to Aryna Sabalenka after the Canadian Open, and Cincinnati now offers her a direct path to the No 1 ranking.

Sabalenka has held the top spot in the WTA Rankings for 95 straight weeks since October 2024. In total, she has spent 103 weeks as world No 1. Rybakina, meanwhile, is seeking that position for the first time and has sat at world No 2 since March.

Rybakina’s run to the final in Toronto, where she lost to Iga Swiatek, lifted her tally to 8,316 points. That left her 354 points behind Sabalenka, who exited in a surprise fourth round defeat to Ekaterina Alexandrova.

The Cincinnati Open, however, introduces another important ranking swing. Rybakina is defending 390 points after reaching the semi-finals last year, while Sabalenka is defending 215 points from her quarter-final result in 2025. At the start of the event, the Live WTA Rankings showed Rybakina on 7,926 points and Sabalenka on 8,455, a gap of 529 points.

That margin has stayed unchanged in the current Live Rankings after both players won their opening matches in Cincinnati and collected 65 points each. Sabalenka is now on 8,520 points, with Rybakina on 7,991.

For Rybakina to overtake her rival, she must at least reach the final. If she gets there, she would move to 8,576 points, but that would only be enough if Sabalenka loses in the third round. Should Sabalenka advance beyond that stage, Rybakina would need to win the title.

A Cincinnati crown would give Rybakina 8,926 points, enough to take No 1 if Sabalenka falls before the final. Sabalenka, though, can guarantee she keeps the top ranking by reaching the final, which would lift her to 9,105 points, out of Rybakina’s reach at this tournament.