World No 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka led player protests at Wimbledon on Saturday, limiting their media appearances to 15 minutes as part of a campaign for a greater share of tournament revenue. The action, which players say will continue through the first week of the championships, aims to secure higher prize money, increased pension contributions, and better welfare funding.
Protests Follow French Open Success
Jessica Pegula confirmed that the limited media time, which worked effectively at the French Open, is likely to extend to the US Open in August. “I think it’s something that we felt was productive and worked well at the French, limiting the media time,” Pegula said. “Fifteen minutes, some people are like: ‘Well, what is that going to do?’ Well, we usually spend 90 minutes, so I think we saw it work well. I think it’s an easy way to get players to become united when you tell them they don’t have to do media.”
Wimbledon Prize Money Increase
After protests at Roland Garros, Wimbledon raised its prize money by 20% to £64.2 million for this year. However, players claim this represents just over 14% of the All England Club’s revenue, based on 2025-26 predictions. Pegula expressed gratitude for the increase but noted it does not address their core demands. “We’re very grateful that one of the slams has raised the prize money but it’s not really answering the questions that we’ve been asking,” she said. “I don’t know if the point’s just not getting across. We’ll see how it progresses over the next couple weeks, after doing this today and over the next week, and then going into the next slam, which is the US Open.”
Mixed Execution Among Players
While the message was unified, execution varied. Sinner conducted a normal-length press conference of about 10 minutes, stating it’s “not only about the money”. Sabalenka cut hers short, saying, “If you look at the prize money over the last 10 years, it’s kind of stayed the same. We do it for the tour, we don’t do it for ourselves. We do it for the rest of the players who are suffering to even hire a coach. It’s not an easy life for players who are lower in the ranking. So we do it for them.”
Djokovic Not Part of Protest
Novak Djokovic, a 24-time grand slam champion who previously led prize money debates, was not part of the protest. Wimbledon expressed disappointment last week, stating that the share of revenue does not fully account for its investment in British tennis.
