Top Stars Extend Grand Slam Protest Campaign at Wimbledon

Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Photo credits: Robert Prange/Getty

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 the revenue Grand Slams are enjoying.

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 29^th June to Sunday 5^th July,” players announced in a press release issued today.

The Grand Slam tournaments are reporting record-setting attendance, record-setting ticket sales and record-setting concession sales in recent years. Players are seeing that growth and asking Grand Slams for a bigger piece of the major pie in alignment with revenue-sharing policies in other sports.

The 2025 US Open drew a record 1,144,562 Million fans over the entire three-week event, which was a 9-percent increase over 2024. It marks the second straight year the Flushing Meadows major surpassed the 1 million mark in attendance. The 2025 US Open drew perhaps the thirstiest crowd in tournament history. A record 738,459 US Open Honey Deuce signature cocktails were sold at $23 a pop, which adds up to nearly $17 Million in sales for the Grey Goose cocktail.

Players are seeing these record-setting revenues and asking the Grand Slams to listen to their requests and negotiate a greater percentage of total revenues for their efforts. 

Typically, Grand Slam press conferences, aside from finals day, rarely exceed 18 to 20 minutes anyway.

So if you’re wondering if extending the 15-minute press limitations some stars first invoked for Roland Garros’ pre-tournament-pressers is more symbolic than a practical measure to get their message out, player representatives have informed Wimbledon officials in writing of this planned action.

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.

The ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles champions will earn £3.6 million, which is about $4.83 million (up 20%) and singles finalists will take home £1.8 million, which is about $2.4 million (up 18%).  

First round singles prize money is set at £80,000 ($106, 726, which is 21% increase), while total prize money on offer at the Qualifying Competition is £6.2 million (25% increase). 

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:

1. 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. 

2. 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.

3. 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.