The French Open is over, and now it’s time to switch to grass. Most of the players have already kick-started their campaigns in the preparatory grass court tournaments ahead of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. Amid all these, there is some good news for all the ATP and WTA stars! What’s it? Well, previously, we have seen tennis stars like Novak Djokovic raising the issue of increased prize money by claiming, “We want more money, they, maybe, don’t want to give us as much money when we talk about the prize money.” Even others like Nick Kyrgios labeled the share of revenue received by the players as a “joke“. Addressing these concerns surrounding the prize money, the Top 20 men’s and women’s players urged the four Grand Slams to increase the prize money, demanding a larger share of tournament revenue. Earlier this year, they sent a letter to the four Grand Slams, and now, as per the latest news, Wimbledon has decided to increase its prize money. But how much? Let’s checkout the breakdown of the prize money.
Well, if we take a look at the issues that were previously raised by these players, they demanded that Grand Slams should help fund player welfare and also seemed to seek a bigger role in decisions affecting competition and player well-being (other than the call for a larger share of tournament revenue). According to the PTPA, tennis players typically receive about 17.5% of the total revenue generated by the sport. Whereas, if we draw a comparison, NBA players receive approximately 50% of the league’s total revenue. Addressing this issue, Emma Navarro said, “I think it’s a good cause to come together as players and make sure we’re getting treated fairly.”
Players like Jessica Pegula and Qinwen Zheng also opened up on this topic. ATP star, Casper Ruud, claimed, “As a player, I don’t feel like it’s fair… If you compare with other major sports around the world, NFL, MLB, NBA, they are closer to 50 percent revenue sharing. I don’t think we’ll ever get there. But if we can get closer, I think every percentage helps.” As of now, if we look at the prize money that was allotted for each of these major tournaments, last year’s US Open had the most lucrative prize pot in tennis history at $75 million (i.e. a 15% increase from 2023), AO had a prize pool of $60 million (12% increase on 2024) while the French Open elevated its total purse to about $63.7 this year (i.e. 5.21% increase from the previous season). What about Wimbledon?
At Wimbledon, it was around $65 million last year, but as per the latest reports, it has increased to 53.5 million pounds (i.e., $72.59) for this season. It is a 7% increase in 2024 and double what they offered a decade ago. The singles champions will receive three million pounds each, an 11.1% increase on the prize money that the defending champions, Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejčíková, took home last year. And, also, the singles players who exit the first round will receive 66,000 pounds (a 10% increase from last year). So, there is a lot at stake in this edition!
Wimbledon confirms a 7% overall increase in prize money of £53.5m.
£3m for each of the singles champions, up 11%.
£66,000 for first-round singles losers, up 10%.
— James Gray (@jamesgraysport) June 12, 2025
Can Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejčíková defend their titles this year? Well, although Alcaraz recently secured his fifth major title at the 2025 Roland Garros, Krejčíková has had a tough time so far. She hasn’t played much this season, and her win-loss record is just 1-3. Recently, she got knocked out of the Queen’s Club Championships by Rebecca Sramkova in the R32. Who are the favorites to take home this hefty prize money this season, then?
Tennis legends pick the favorites for the 2025 Wimbledon Championships
On the men’s side, the top three seeds for the 2025 Wimbledon Championships have been confirmed, with Jannik Sinner leading the pack, followed by Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. However, the fourth place is yet to be decided with Jack Draper, Novak Djokovic, Lorenzo Musetti, and Taylor Frits separated by just 315 points in the ATP Rankings. Looking at their performance this season, Sinner and Alcaraz will surely start this campaign as the favorites, but what about Nole?
Novak Djokovic has won the Wimbledon Championships seven times (2011,2014,2015,2018,2019,2021,2022) in his career. But he will be entering this contest following his three-set defeat to Jannik Sinner in the SF of the 2025 French Open. However, according to Serena Williams’ childhood coach Rick Macci’s recent tweet, “At WIMBY Joker might have his best shot at Grand Slam number 25. He still is the best return to sender and his movement on grass he is the ultimate bender and defender. Plus goats love Grass and your at net even if he is off balance can fire the Pass. @DjokerNole.” Last year, he was defeated in the final by Alcaraz.
Time will tell if Djokovic can secure his 25th major title here or not! But now, if we switch to the women’s side, Coco Gauff has been in red-hot form after recently securing her second major triumph at the 2025 Roland Garros. Does she have a chance at Wimbledon? According to Chris Evert, “She (Coco Gauff) is going to win all of them, yeah. For sure, she can win on every surface. She has won on clay and on hard. I can definitely see that she can win Wimbledon.”
However, Laura Robson claimed, “I don’t know who is favorite in the women’s Wimbledon event. I would probably say Sabalenka because she’s done well there in the past, but for Coco, it’s been a surface which hasn’t quite given her the results that the other Slams have.” She also suggested that she thinks the 2025 AO champion, Madison Keys, can possibly be a real contender at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. Talking about Keys, even tennis legends, Tracy Austin and Chanda Rubin, stated that the 30-year-old has a “good chance” of winning the title at Wimbledon. Who’s your pick, though?
The post Wimbledon Reveals $72 Million Update After Months of Player Protests appeared first on EssentiallySports.
