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The All England Club is confident that there will be no player protests at Wimbledon following their meetings with representatives of the top tennis players at the French Open.
Individuals representing top tennis players, led by the former WTA chief executive Larry Scott, met Wimbledon officials on Monday to discuss the state of the dispute, discussions that both parties viewed as productive.
A spokesperson for the All England Lawn Tennis Club said: “We were pleased to have the opportunity to meet with the players’ representative at Roland Garros. Our discussions about the arrangements for this year’s Championships were positive. We look forward to continuing these discussions in further detail after the Championships.”
The AELTC’s prize money announcement, which takes place next Thursday ahead of the Championships, will be another critical moment in this dispute and there is significant anticipation over the rise. The player representatives informed the AELTC during the meeting that they expect a significant increase to their prize money purse. The AELTC generally holds off on finalising its prize money pool until relatively close to the announcement, allowing the club greater flexibility regarding its financial contributions.
The buildup to the French Open was dominated by the growing discontent from the top men’s and women’s players regarding the response from grand slam tournaments to their criticisms. They were particularly frustrated by the French Tennis Federation’s prize money announcement, which they deemed insufficient, prompting them to take more forceful action. The FFT offered a total prize money purse of £52.6m for this year, a 9.5% rise from last year. It is less than the £53.5m offered by Wimbledon last year, which the players expect to increase significantly this year.
After the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka predicted at the Italian Open last month that the players would eventually have to boycott grand slam tournaments to achieve their goals, top players including the world No 1s Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner chose to initiate a media boycott during their pre-tournament media availability.
The players limited their media availability to 15 minutes, speaking only in the pre-tournament press conference and their mandatory interview with the host broadcaster. They refused to speak with any of the tournament rights holders, which pay the event significant amounts of money for the privilege of being able to speak exclusively to the players.
This situation prompted player representatives to arrange separate meetings with the FFT, the AELTC and the United States Tennis Association. During their meeting last week, FFT officials agreed to consider the proposals from the player group and issue a concrete counter proposal in the weeks after the French Open, which both parties view as a positive step forward. There were no similar agreements in the meeting between the players and the AELTC and Wimbledon’s prize money purse will likely determine the next steps in this dispute. Wimbledon begins on 29 June 2026.
The dispute between top players and the grand slam championships dates back to the first letter sent by the player group last March, with the players believing that they should be entitled to a greater share of the revenues generated by the grand slam tournaments. The players initially issued the four grand slam events with a proposal requesting greater revenue share for players, contribution to player welfare, such as player pensions, and greater representation for players through a grand slam player council.
