A familiar pattern is playing out as the second Grand Slam tournament of 2026 draws near.
The French Open, which starts May 24, is increasing its prize money by 9.5 percent from 2025, to a total pool of €61.7 million ($72.3 million). But the group of top-10 ATP and WTA players that has been pressuring the four biggest events in tennis over their financial commitments has expressed “collective disappointment” over the increase because of the overall share of the tournament’s revenue it represents.
The prize pool will come in at 15 percent of the French Open’s projected revenue, according to the group’s estimates, a proportion the players deem to be well below what they want from the four majors. Joint ATP and WTA Tour events award 22 percent of revenue to the players, while many U.S. team sports set an even higher mark, with players in the NFL, NBA and MLB receiving close to 50 percent of league revenues.
WNBA players recently held out of negotiations for 17 months to achieve nearly 20 percent of their league’s revenue.
“As Roland Garros looks to post record revenues, players are therefore receiving a declining share of the value they help create,” a statement circulated by the player group said. It was attributed to the 20 signatories of an initial letter to the four majors sent in March 2025, including Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff.
“While other major international sports are modernising governance, aligning stakeholders, and building long-term value, the Grand Slams remain resistant to change. The absence of player consultation and the continued lack of investment in player welfare reflect a system that does not adequately represent the interests of those who are central to the sport’s success.”
In a statement sent to The Athletic, the French Tennis Federation said:
“In 2026, the Roland-Garros tournament will offer a total prize money of €61.7 million, representing a 9.53% increase compared to 2025 and roughly a 45% increase since 2019. This reflects a sustained commitment to increasing player compensation over time.
“The French Tennis Federation has made the choice to focus some of these increases on players who exit the tournament in the early rounds of the main draw and the qualifying stages, with rises exceeding 11%, as to better support players who rely most on prize money to fund their season.
“Beyond prize money, the Roland-Garros model is based on a specific economic framework. The FFT is a non-profit organization. All revenues generated by the tournament are reinvested into the Roland-Garros tournament, as well as the development of tennis in France and internationally.
“This includes direct support for the development of the sport at grassroot level, training and pathway programs, strong commitment to women’s tennis, inclusive tennis and wheelchair tennis, as well as significant contributions to international tennis development through the ITF.
“The FFT has also recently invested more than €400 million in the Roland-Garros infrastructure, notably to significantly enhance player conditions and on-site services.
“Finally, the FFT remains fully committed to ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders in global tennis, including speaking directly with individual players. It will continue working to improve overall player conditions, in line with its responsibilities and its model.”
The French Open’s increase follows the Australian Open’s announcement in January of a 16 percent increase in prize money to $75 million, and the U.S. Open’s 21 percent increase to a record $85 million prize pool. Wimbledon offered $72.6 million in 2025, up 7 percent from its 2024 pot. But those figures all come in at less than 22 percent of each tournament’s respective revenues, a target that the player group wants the Grand Slams to reach by 2030, alongside other demands such as the formation of a Grand Slam Player Council and financial contributions to player benefits.
The players group sent two series of letters to all Grand Slams, the first in March of 2025 and the second in July, calling for broad reform. They have held meetings with the majors over the aims, but the talks haven’t yet led to significant breakthroughs.
The French Open’s increase in prize money is weighted toward earlier rounds. There will be a nearly 13 percent increase for qualifying rounds compared to 2025, while the increase for main-draw prize money favors the first three rounds. First-round losers will receive just under $102,000, while the men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive just under $3.3 million.
Increased revenue sharing isn’t just a rallying cry of the top players’ group. It is also a primary issue for the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), which last year filed an antitrust lawsuit against the ATP and WTA Tours that described the sport’s governing bodies as a “cartel,” to which the Grand Slams were “co-conspirators.”
Australian Open organizers broke with the three other Grand Slams to settle with the PTPA in December. On the same day, organizers of the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open filed a joint motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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