The total prize money at Wimbledon has increased by 20% to a record £64.2 million ($85.7 million). At a pre-tournament press conference on Thursday, all England Club executives announced the significant financial hike for players.
Each of the Wimbledon singles winners will now receive £3.6 million. Iga Swiatek of Poland won the women’s competition the previous year, while Jannik Sinner of Italy is the current men’s champion.
At Wimbledon this year, players who lose in the first round will receive £80,000 in compensation.
The Wimbledon increase follows a protest by a number of the best players in the world that limited media coverage to 15 minutes before the most recent French Open.
The prize money at Roland Garros only climbed by 9.5 percent from 2025 and remained at about 15 percent of the money made from the clay-court competition, which frustrated the players. The players are thought to desire the prize pool to be more in line with 22% of the tournament’s earnings.
Wimbledon’s prize money has increased from £53.5 million to £64.2 million for this year’s event, which begins on June 29 in southwest London.
“I recognise there is one topic you are most interested in hearing about this morning and that’s prize money,” AFP quoted Wimbledon chair Debbie Jevans telling reporters on Thursday.
“For 2026 the prize money fund will be £64.2 million, that is a 20 percent increase on last year and £10.7 million uplift which allows players to continue to share in our success.
“Our support for players is distributed throughout the draw. Gentleman and Ladies singles’ champions will each receive £3.6 million and first-round prize money is set at £80,000, so players that lose in the first round will share more than £5 million in prize money. These figures represent a substantial increase in prize money.”
Last month, Sally Bolton, the CEO of Wimbledon, met with Larry Scott, the players’ agent, in Roland Garros to talk about the prize money issue.
“There has been no dialogue with the players direct but we have had dialogue with Larry Scott, who has been appointed by some of players to represent them,” Jevans said.
“We have had dialogue, email exchanges and a meeting in Paris. After Paris you have all read the 22 percent and £70 million, what we have done is right and appropriate.
“We begin looking at prize money in January. We looked at investment in facilities, in grassroots and player prize money. I would hope the players would welcome it.”
