Gamers sustain the stress on the Grand Slam tournaments by asking organisers to extend prize cash.
Revealed On 4 Might 2026
A gaggle of main tennis gamers, together with Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, have expressed “their deep disappointment” on the prize cash on supply at Roland Garros throughout a lingering dispute with Grand Slam match organisers.
The clay court docket Grand Slam occasion begins on Might 24 in Paris. The gamers stated they produce other calls for that haven’t been addressed by officers, together with higher illustration, healthcare and pensions.
The gamers’ name got here after French Open organisers introduced final month that the Roland Garros prize cash elevated by about 10 % for an general pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1m), up by 5.3 million euros ($6.2m) from final yr.
“Gamers’ share of Roland Garros match income has declined from 15.5 % in 2024 to 14.9 % projected in 2026,” the group of gamers responded in an announcement on Monday.
The French Open males’s and girls’s singles champions every obtain 2.8 million euros ($3.27m) and the runners-up 1.4 million euros ($1.63m). Semifinalists earn 750,000 euros ($878,383), and first-round losers get 87,000 euros ($101,897). Males’s and girls’s doubles winners pocket 600,000 euros ($702,739), and the blended doubles champions get 122,000 euros ($142,882).
However the assertion stated “the underlying figures inform a really completely different story,” claiming that gamers obtain a declining share of the worth they contribute to the match.
“In keeping with match officers, Roland Garros generated 395m euros ($462m) in income in 2025, a 14 % year-on-year enhance, but prize cash rose by simply 5.4 %, lowering gamers’ share of income to 14.3 %,” they stated.
“With estimated revenues of over 400m euros ($468m) for this yr’s match, prize cash as a proportion of income will doubtless nonetheless be lower than 15 %, far in need of the 22 % that gamers have requested to deliver the Grand Slams into line with the ATP and WTA Mixed 1000 occasions.”
The identical group of gamers had already signed a letter despatched to the heads of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments final yr, searching for extra prize cash and a larger say in what they known as “selections that straight influence us”.
The gamers stated they continue to be “united of their need to see significant progress, each when it comes to honest monetary distribution and in how the game is ruled”.
They insisted they haven’t obtained any response to their proposals on welfare, together with pensions and long-term healthcare, including that no progress has been made “on honest and clear participant illustration inside Grand Slam decision-making”.
“Whereas different main worldwide sports activities are modernising governance, aligning stakeholders, and constructing long-term worth, the Grand Slams stay resistant to vary,” they stated.
“The absence of participant session and the continued lack of funding in participant welfare mirror a system that doesn’t adequately symbolize the pursuits of those that are central to the game’s success.”
