Wimbledon 2026: Players to increase prize money by 20% to expand objections

Leading tennis players expand their prize money at Wimbledon – although a 20% increase In this year’s pot.

Some players have limited pre-tournament media. 15 minutes At the recent French Open, however, he will go one step further at Wimbledon.

Not only will they limit their coverage this coming media weekend, but they also plan to limit post-game play to 15 minutes in the first week of the championship, which begins Monday.

The 15-minute limit is meant to represent 15% of the earnings that – broadly speaking – Grand Slams allocate to prize money.

The decision is said to have the support of most of the world’s top 20 players.

In Paris, women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka skipped her pre-tournament press conference, while players such as Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek followed the ‘work to win’ directive.

However, Novak Djokovic, who regularly speaks out on behalf of players’ rights, did not participate in the action.

Earlier this month, the players welcomed Wimbledon’s 20% increase as a “real and significant step forward”.

The total prize fund at this year’s championships will be £64.2m, the biggest annual increase in the event’s history.

The singles winners will take home £3.6m each, with the first round losers paid £80,000.

The players have released a statement calling the announcement a “meaningful expression of interest” – also pointing out that it still doesn’t match the 16 percent of tournament revenue they’re asking for.

As well as campaigning for Grand Slams to link prize money to tournament revenue, they are asking players to contribute to their cause and have a greater say in how the events are run.

The total prize money is £7m less than the players were hoping for.

All England club chairman Deborah Jevans told BBC Sport earlier this month: “We don’t look at percentages, we don’t really believe that’s an accurate measure.”

“It’s a metric that’s based solely on revenue and doesn’t take into account any costs, and we can’t do business that way.

“We have costs – we talked about investment in infrastructure and lawn tennis.

“You can’t run a sustainable business, and we’ve been around for 150 years just looking at revenue. That’s so wrong.”