The world’s leading players told Wimbledon officials that they expect a substantial increase in prize money at this year’s championships at a meeting at Roland Garros on Monday.
The All England Club is due to confirm details of this year’s prize fund at a press conference on 11 June, with the players calling for a bigger rise than the 7% increase last year as part of their push for the grand slam events to match the 22% of tournament revenue paid by the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women’s Tennis Association.
Many top players, including the world No 1s, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, staged a public protest by limiting their pre-tournament media activity to 15 minutes before the start of the French Open, symbolising the 15% of revenue currently paid by the grand slam championships, although relations between the two parties appear to have improved since.
The French tennis federation promised to return with concrete proposals about increased prize money, player welfare and representation within a month in talks with leading agents on the same day as the media boycott a fortnight ago. Wimbledon and US Open officials also made positive noises in separate meetings on Monday.
A source with knowledge of the discussions described them as “direct and productive”, adding that the grand slam tournaments demonstrated a clear understanding of the players’ demands – a fairer share of revenues allocated to prize money, meaningful contributions to player welfare, and a genuine player consultation process.
Wimbledon’s prize money announcement next week is now seen as a pivotal moment in a dispute that has rumbled on for more than a year. The players will be looking for a double-digit increase after expressing disappointment at the French Open’s 9.5% rise to a total fund of £52.6m last month, which led to their first public protest.
Wimbledon already pays more than Roland Garros in prize money with a total fund of £53.5m, double what was offered a decade ago, although the All England Club’s revenues have increased from £170m to £406.5m over the same period.
A spokesperson for the All England Club said: “We were pleased to have the opportunity to meet with the players’ representative at Roland Garros. Our discussions about the arrangements for this year’s championships were positive. We look forward to continuing these discussions in further detail after The championships.”
In a sign of the sport’s fractured governance, Tennis Australia is not involved in the talks in Paris as the Australian Open has aligned with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association, which is suing the other three grand slam governing bodies in New York’s district court over alleged restrictive practices in a separate dispute.
