With the tennis Grand Slams pulling in an audience of more than 400 million viewers each year, the sport continues to thrive. The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open are the pinnacle events of tennis. They are the four majors, the headline-grabbing events, which offer players the chance at prestigious titles and huge prize pots.

Recently a collection of twenty leading players from both the ATP and WTA, including Iga Swiatek, Novak Djokovic, Coco Gauff, and Casper Ruud, issued a letter calling for an increase in the winnings allocated to the Grand Slam tournaments. With a large number of top players backing the proposal, the call for more prize money has gained international attention.

The players behind the action are those who are regularly in the mix for those big prizes. These are athletes consistently ranked in the ATP and WTA top 10 – regulars in the sport’s biggest matches. You’ll often find them featured in betting markets across bookmaker platforms worldwide. US punters can back them, while UK bettors often use bookies welcome offers to bet on their games.

But why have many of the sport’s elite players signed off on this letter and are the prizes offered by the competition's organisers too low?

What Is the Value of the Prize Money Offered by Grand Slam Tournament Organisers?

The US Open leads the prize-money pack with $3.6 million going to the singles champions, while the Australian Open and Wimbledon each dish out $3.5 million, with the French Open trailing slightly at $2.7 million.

In 2024, the total value of the prizes awarded by the organisers of the four major tennis competitions reached $250 million:

Tournament	2024 Prize Money	Comment
US Open	$75 million	The largest prize fund in tennis history.
Wimbledon	$65 million	Record-breaking prizes for Wimbledon.
Australian Open	$60 million	An increase of nearly 12%.
French Open	$59 million	An increase of over 7.8%.

As impressive as these figures may seem, the reality is that the total revenue generated by the organisers of the four Grand Slam tournaments amounted to $1.5 billion in 2024. Of this sum, the organisers allocated over 50% to themselves, which sparked outrage among the key participants in these competitions, which are the tennis players themselves.

As a result, they, through the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), have filed a lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, ITF, and the Tennis Integrity Agency, demanding an increase in the share of revenue allocated to athletes participating in the Grand Slams.

Why Was This Letter Published Now?

The players who are part of the PTPA are also seeking to put pressure on the representatives of the Grand Slam tournaments to increase their share of the generated revenue, but it’s about more than just putting extra prize money in their pocket. 

The signatories of this letter are calling not only for a larger share of the income produced by the events but also for funding to support player welfare programmes. In addition, they are seeking greater decision-making power within these competitions, motivated by the desire to contribute to decisions that affect both competitiveness and player welfare. 

The decision to intensify pressure on the organisations responsible for the major tournaments at this particular time is also linked to the fact that three of the four Grand Slam events are still to be played.

The Australian Open was completed earlier this year, but the next Slam is the French Open which is scheduled for May 19th. Wimbledon will start on June 30th, and the US Open will take place from August 25th, so there is still plenty of time for potential adjustments to happen this year.

Are the Players’ Demands Gaining Traction?

A stellar lineup of names has backed the letter, featuring some of the biggest stars in tennis right now. 

From the WTA side, the likes of Mirra Andreeva, Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro, Aryna Sabalenka, Paula Badosa, Iga Swiatek, Zheng Qinwen, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, and Jasmine Paolini are on board. 

On the ATP front, it’s equally stacked with Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur, and Taylor Fritz having all signed on.

So far, the call for change hasn’t fallen on deaf ears. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has signalled it’s open to talks, which is always a good sign when the ones holding the purse strings are at least picking up the phone.

Pushing for More

To keep up the pressure, the players are pushing for a face-to-face sit-down with the key figures running the Grand Slam show. That means the PTPA is actively seeking discussions with Lew Sherr of the US Open, Craig Tiley of the Australian Open, Sally Bolton of Wimbledon, and Stephane Morel of the French Open. 

The PTPA have targets too, as they’re eyeing the 2025 Madrid Open which begins on April 21st, as the stage for that conversation, as nothing says “let’s fix tennis” like trying to juggle diplomacy and drop shots at the same time.

What comes of it all remains to be seen. But with that kind of star power and a growing sense that players want a bigger seat at the table, ignoring them might just be more exhausting than the fifth set.