Photo credit: Jed Jacobsohn/ROLEX
Tennis’ top stars will time out at Wimbledon.
Several of the world’s top-ranked men and women players have committed to extending their Grand Slam protest, which began last month at Roland Garros, to Wimbledon first-week press-conferences.
The players are protesting in their continued quest to gain a greater share of Grand Slam revenue.
At Wimbledon, players will limit their contractual media commitments at the tournament to 15 minutes “reflecting that Wimbledon currently pays slightly below 15% of revenues to players as prize money for the duration of the first week of the Championships Monday 29th June to Sunday 5th July,” players announced in a press release issued today.
It comes two weeks after Wimbledon announced record-setting prize money of £64.2 million, which is about $85.6 million for The Championships 2026.
The £10.7 million increase from 2025 prize money represents “a significant 20% increase, and by far the biggest annual increase in the history of the event,” tournament organizers said in a statement.
In today’s statement players cite three main issues that must be resolved with the four Grand Slam tournaments. Here’s the excerpt from today’s news release:
- Players’ proposals on contributions to a player welfare fund and a formal player council — which would benefit the full breadth of the profession, not just the players at the top of the game — have received no substantive response from Wimbledon since being tabled a year ago.
- Players’ share of Wimbledon’s projected revenues stands at 14.4% — still below the 14.9% share of a decade ago, despite revenues growing by more than £280 million over that period. The players’ July 2025 proposals asked for 16% of revenues this year — approximately £71 million — against an announced figure of £64.2 million.
- Players are also aware that recent public comments from Wimbledon’s leadership have questioned the principle of a revenue-sharing formula — the very foundation of the proposal.It is difficult to reach a structural agreement while the structural premise is being contested.