Wimbledon 2026: Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner lead players limiting media duties over prize money
Sinner, the defending men’s champion, closed out questions about the protest in a brief English segment before switching to Italian, saying he just wanted to talk about tennis.
Others, including women’s champion Iga Swiatek and former world number one Daniil Medvedev, have also limited their media commitments to a main news conference and one or two on-air interviews.
This is the second consecutive Slam in which players have protested what they perceive as a lack of action following a similar move at last month’s French Open.
In response, seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, who did not join the protest, held a 15-minute press conference and spoke to 18 television channels for nearly an hour.
“Perhaps what we did at Roland Garros partly helped us put Wimbledon ahead,” Medvedev said.
“We are not accountants, but we process the information given to us. We see that the percentage of revenue is lower than it was 10 years ago, so we get less money.
“We’re pushing for more of what we think is fair. No one’s angry; it’s just an argument.”
On Saturday, as protesting players were scheduling news conferences, several managers were seen urging moderators to wrap up the meetings.
Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club, told BBC Sport on Friday she was “surprised and disappointed” by the protest move.
Australian sixth seed Alex de Minaur joined the protests at last month’s French Open but decided he did not want to take part in Wimbledon.
“I think we had the feeling that even though we collectively didn’t achieve the numbers we were looking for at Roland Garros, everyone agreed with us on that,” he said.
“I thought Wimbledon had made a big step in the right direction and that should be taken into account. So I have to accept their big step.”
