Top Tennis Players Criticize the French Open Over This Year’s Prize Money

Tennis Players Criticize French Open Prize MoneyJulian Finney - Getty Images

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Top tennis players including Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, and Coco Gauff are among those criticizing the French Open’s 2026 prize money. Men’s and women’s singles champions will receive 2.8 million euros ($3.28 million) and the runners-up 1.4 million euros ($1.64 million); players believe they should receive a bigger share of revenue.

“Without us there wouldn’t be a tournament and there wouldn’t be that entertainment. I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage,” Sabalenka said on Tuesday at the Italian Open. “I think at some point we will boycott it. I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.”

“Players’ share of Roland Garros tournament revenue has declined from 15.5% in 2024 to 14.9% projected in 2026,” a group of players noted in a statement posted to social media. “With estimated revenues of over 400 million euros ($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.”

Per ESPN, the players “have other demands that have not been addressed by officials, including better representation, health and pensions” from the four Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. “From the things I’ve seen with other sports, usually to make massive progress and things like this, it takes a union,” Gauff said, per the . “We have to become unionized in some way... We definitely can move more as a collective.” Regarding a boycott, Gauff said, “If everyone were to move as one and collaborate, yeah, I can 100% see that.”