Another players vs. authorities crisis could be looming for tennis as several leading stars have voiced their disappointment over the prize money on offer at the French Open. Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, and Carlos Alcaraz are among the world’s top-ranked players who have criticized the organizers of Roland-Garros for not giving players a fair share of the revenue.
This comes at a precarious time, with the Italian Open upon us and the 2026 French Open just three weeks away.
Leading Players, Including Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, Express Disappointment Over French Open Prize Money
Amid rising tensions, the group of the world’s leading players released a joint statement expressing concern about the share of revenue players receive at the French Open. The statement claimed that the players’ revenue share has declined while the tournament continues to post record revenues.
“According to tournament officials, Roland Garros generated €395 million ($462,481,800) in revenue in 2025, a 14% year-on-year increase, yet prize money rose by just 5.4%, reducing players’ share of revenue to 14.3%. With estimated revenues of over €400 million ($468,426,000) for this year’s tournament, prize money as a percentage of revenue will likely still be less than 15%, far short of the 22% that players have requested to bring the Grand Slams into line with the ATP and WTA Combined 1000 events,” the statement read.
The statement also mentioned other demands that officials have not yet addressed, including modernizing governance, building long-term value, providing decision-making consultancy at Grand Slams, and improving health and pension options for players.
Among the list of signatories were Sinner, Alcaraz, Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Iga Świątek, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev, and Mirra Andreeva.
The French Open recently announced an increase to the 2026 prize money fund to €61.7 million ($72.1 million). This is up around 10% from last year, when the total prize money was €56,352,000 ($65.9 million).
But the French Open remains well short of the other Grand Slams in the revenue it offers players. The US Open had a total prize purse of $90 million last year, while the Australian Open offered close to $40 million this year, and Wimbledon paid out $72.59 million in prize money last year.
Meanwhile, the ATP has a 50-50 profit-sharing formula in place at the Masters 1000 tournaments. Overall, the ATP and WTA share 22% of revenue. This aligns with the share of players who want the Grand Slams to reach by 2030.
As tennis continues to lag behind other sports in players’ revenue share, the top stars remain united in their bid to pursue reforms and bring about change. The players have long been in dispute with all four Grand Slams over the revenue share they are offered amid rising profits.
MORE: Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Świątek: Who Has the Tougher Italian Open Draw?
Several leading players were signatories on a statement released last year that urged the four Majors to give players a bigger seat at the table and invest more in welfare programs. In February 2026, a group of top players refused to meet with Grand Slam representatives, demanding “substantive responses to the specific proposals” they had called for.
The leading tennis players on the ATP and WTA Tours remain determined to seek a more formal voice in the decision-making at the Grand Slams, and it will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds in the coming weeks.
