Wimbledon 2026: Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Siner lead players to limit media obligations to prize money

Ciner, the men’s champion, brushed off questions about the protest, saying he only wanted to talk about tennis before switching to Italian.

Others – including women’s champion Iga Svitech and former world number one Daniil Medvedev – also limited their media appearances to one major news conference and one or two broadcast interviews.

It was the second consecutive Slam where players protested a lack of practice, following a similar move at the French Open last month.

In comparison, seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic – who is not participating in the protests – held a 15-minute news conference and spoke to 18 television stations for an hour.

“Maybe what we did at Roland Garros partly helped us push for Wimbledon,” Medvedev said.

“We are not accountants, but we are working on the information we are given. We are seeing that the percentage of revenue is less than 10 years ago, so we are making less money.

“We’re pushing for more of what we think is fair. Nobody’s angry — it’s just a conversation.”

Protesting players were holding their news conferences on Saturday, with several agents seen urging moderators to include them.

All England club chief executive Sally Bolton told BBC Sport on Friday that they were surprised and disappointed by the move to protest.

Australian sixth seed Alex de Minaur took part in the protest at last month’s French Open but decided not to play at Wimbledon.

“I think our feeling at Roland Garros was that everyone was on board, even though we didn’t achieve the numbers we wanted as a team,” he said.

“I thought Wimbledon took a big step in the right direction and something needs to be recognized. So this is a big step for me to recognize.”