Wimbledon has announced it would increase its total prize money pot to £64.2m, but that is unlikely to quell top players’ anger ahead of a potential boycott.
The prize money is up from £53.5m from the 2025 event, with this year’s men’s and women’s singles champions earning £3.6m each, up from £3m, and the first-round losers will now receive £80,000 – £14,000 more than in 2025.
Several top players, including Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, have complained about the distribution of Grand Slam prize money this season.
They were unhappy particularly with the distribution at Roland Garros and Wimbledon have followed suit with a healthy increase in prize money.
Players are reportedly after tournament revenue share of 16% and the Wimbledon increase gives the Grand Slam an increase of 15.15%.
Finance experts have predicted unhappiness with top WTA and ATP players and now Wimbledon’s tournament director, Jamie Baker, has dubbed the debate ‘frustrating’.
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Speaking to Andy Roddick on Served, the former ATP star said: “It costs money to stage a championships. It costs money to develop the brand over many, many, many years.
“Now, that money and that investment, and I would look at it in two ways: the annual staging of the championships, and then the major infrastructure projects, the two things combined, look at that as the engine that allows us to drive revenue, that then does two things.
“We can distribute massively to the players of prize money, and then we also have the distribution to the grassroots game. That is our business model. There’s no leakage. There’s no shareholder; we don’t exist to deliver a return to anybody. All our money stays in tennis.
“Now, the reason why we would want to be really clear about using this revenue metric just doesn’t make sense for this business, is because revenue only takes into account money coming in.
“It does not take into account costs or investments, and that has to be part of the conversation. The thing that’s frustrating about this conversation is that we are on the side of the players.
“We want them, the players, to share in the growth of the championships, and there is a path to doing that. But, we do have to take a step back and recognise what it is about this business that works, that allows us, on average, to generate ten times the amount of revenues as a 1000 event, and then also distribute up to five times as much money.”
With the debate set to rumble on up to Wimbledon, it could be a very intriguing Grand Slam at SW19 this year.
