Several top tennis stars cut their French Open press conferences short on Friday as part of their protest over the lack of increase in prize money at Grand Slams, but Emma Raducanu was not one of them.

Roland Garros organisers were warned ahead of the tournament that players would reduce their mandatory 15-minute ​sessions and would also not conduct any additional interviews, as they wanted a bigger slice of the revenue pie.

And many of them followed through with their threats as world No 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek as well as Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Mirra Andreeva, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz who walked out before the completion of their press conferences.

But Raducanu decided not to take part as when a journalist asked her: “Your colleagues right now are protesting the tournament by reducing their media commitments, not speaking to rights holders. I’m just curious what you make of it and just the general kind of push for more kind of prize money and that kind of thing?

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The 2021 US Open winner replied: “I mean why wouldn’t I want to be talking to you guys for more than 15 minutes?” she started off. “I don’t understand. For me, it’s part of what we do.

“Of course, I understand the position of the players compared to the other sports, the percentage is lower, but I’ve just been focused on trying to get myself back at a level, operating well.

“And it’s also playing a Grand Slam isn’t necessarily just about, you know, the money. I think it’s a lot more about the prestige. It’s a lot about the history and that’s what I value the most. So yeah, I’m just grateful to be at another Slam.”

During her press conference, four-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka reiterated her position about on the matter as she insisted it was about player welfare and helping those lower down the rankings.

“It’s about the players who are lower in the ranking, who are suffering. It’s not easy to live in this tennis world with that percentage that we are earning,” she stated.

“As the world No 1, I feel like 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.”

However, Novak Djokovic was another player who is not part of the media protest, but insisted “what I can do is reiterate my own position that I have always been on the players’ side and tried to advocate for players’ rights and better future for players.”