LEADING ATP AND WTA players will continue their campaign for a larger share of Grand Slam revenues during this year’s Wimbledon Championships by limiting their media interactions throughout the opening week of the tournament, escalating a protest that first emerged at the French Open.
The coordinated action comes despite the All England Club announcing a record 20 per cent increase in Wimbledon prize money for 2026, taking the total prize fund to £64.2 million, the highest in the tournament’s history. Player representatives have acknowledged the increase as a positive step but argue that it still falls short of addressing broader concerns over revenue sharing and player welfare.
Under the protest, players will restrict mandatory post-match media availability to 15 minutes during the first week of Wimbledon, from June 29 to July 5. The 15-minute limit is symbolic, representing what players say is the approximate percentage of tournament revenues currently distributed as prize money.
The protest extends the strategy adopted at Roland Garros earlier this year, where leading players shortened pre-tournament press conferences and declined interviews with several broadcast rights holders to draw attention to their demands.
The dispute centres on the distribution of Grand Slam revenues. According to player representatives, Wimbledon currently allocates around 14.4 per cent of its projected revenues to prize money, slightly lower than the approximately 14.9 per cent distributed in 2015.
The players have proposed increasing that figure to 16 per cent, equivalent to roughly £71 million in prize money, as an interim target, with a longer-term goal of raising the share to around 22 per cent, similar to the percentage distributed at several ATP and WTA Tour events. In addition to higher prize money, players are also seeking the establishment of a Grand Slam player committee and enhanced contributions towards player welfare programmes.
The All England Club expressed disappointment over the planned protest, maintaining that Wimbledon has consistently prioritised player welfare and invested heavily in facilities and the broader development of tennis.
The campaign has received backing from several of the sport’s biggest names, including world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic, who have all publicly voiced support for improving players’ share of Grand Slam revenues.
