Roland Garros targeted by WTA and ATP tennis players as pay row reignited
The row between the world’s top tennis players and the four grand slams continues to rage on after WTA and ATP stars hit out at Roland Garros over prize money.
This year’s French Open increased prize money across the board ahead of the 125th edition of the Parisian tournament – up nearly 10 per cent on last year – but players have bemoaned the decline in the proportion of revenue heading to competitors.
The players’ share of Roland Garros tournament revenue, they say, has declined from 15.1 per cent in 2024 to a projected 14.9 per cent this year despite “no response to players’ proposals on welfare including pension and long-term health”.
It continues a saga that has been ongoing for over a year, when an initial latter was sent to grand slam organisers in Australia, France, Great Britain and the United States demanding a higher percentage of revenue from tennis’ four main tournaments and a greater say over off-field events.
At the time all 10 of the top men’s players signed the latter and 10 out of the top 11 women also declared themselves as signatories – only Elena Rybakina’s name did not appear.
Tennis pay row
“With estimated revenues of over €400m for this year’s a tournament,” a statement read on Monday morning, “prize money as a percentage of revenue will likely still be less than 15 per cent, far short of the 22 per cent that players have requested to bring the grand slams into line with the ATP and WTA combined 1000 events.”
Those 1000 events include the Madrid Open, which finished yesterday, and the Italian Open, which starts this week.
Roland Garros is the next of the four grand slams and takes place on the clay at the end of the month. The tennis circuit then transitions into grass season ahead of Wimbledon this summer and then back onto hard courts ahead of the US Open at Flushing Meadows later in the year.