World's top tennis players to protest during Wimbledon over prize money

Some of the world's top tennis players plan to protest over prize money during this year's Wimbledon tournament.

The players - men and women - 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.

The protest will last for the first week of the championships.

Meanwhile Wimbledon organisers have said they are "surprised and disappointed by the move".

Following detailed consultation with players across both tours, player representatives have written to Wimbledon's leadership to inform them of the planned action, while acknowledging the welcome recent 20% increase in prize money compared with last year's championships.

The two-week grass court tournament starts on Monday.

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Sky News has approached the All England Lawn Tennis Club for comment.

During the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris, women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka cut short her press conference as part of the protest by top tennis players over the prize money on offer at Grand Slams.

Sabalenka, men's world No 1 Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff all expressed "disappointment" at the percentage of revenue players are allocated at the slams.

Some players took a stand against the pay row by leaving media commitments after 15 minutes, a number symbolising their revenue share, which is around 14.4%.

It is still below the 14.9% share a decade ago, despite revenues going up by £280m over that period.

The total prize money this year is £64.2m, which is shared among the 128 men and 128 women at the competition.

The prize for winning the first round is £80,000, with the figure steadily climbing to £3.6m for the eventual winners of the competition.

That figure is £600,000 more than the £3m last year.

"It's not about me. ⁠It's about the players who are lower in the ranking, who are suffering," Sabalenka ⁠said.

"But as the world No 1, I feel like I have to stand up and to fight for those players."

A spokesperson for the All England Club told the Press Association: "We are surprised and disappointed by this action.

"Wimbledon puts the players at the heart of all our decisions and we invest significantly in them every year. This year's total prize money fund has increased by 20 per cent to £64.2 million, which is the largest increase in our event's history.

"This is alongside investing hundreds of millions of pounds in upgrades to our player facilities as part of a three-year transformation to create a world class player performance environment."

(c) Sky News 2026: World's top tennis players to protest during Wimbledon over prize money