Wimbledon has raised its prize-money purse for the 2026 Championships to £64.2m, a 20% increase that adds £10.7m to last year’s total and lifts the men’s and women’s singles champions’ payment to £3.6m each. Singles players beaten in the first round will receive £80,000.
The announcement came on Thursday, just weeks before the 2026 Championships begin at the end of this month, which is why the question of When Is Wimbledon 2026 is drawing fresh attention. Players’ representatives have been waiting to see whether the tournament would move on pay and whether that move would come soon enough to shape the next grand slam.
Leading players from the ATP and WTA Tours called the increase a genuine and significant step forward, saying it was the largest single-year uplift in the tournament’s history and a meaningful signal of intent. That reaction matters because the dispute between top players and the grand slam tournaments has run on since last year, and it had already spilled into a boycott of media at the French Open.
For the players, the size of the purse is only part of the issue. They had pushed for Wimbledon’s prize money to reflect a 16% revenue share, which would have put the figure at around £71.2m, while the group says the 14.4% share it sees now is below the 14.9% offered in 2015. Debbie Jevans pushed back on that logic, saying it made no sense to measure prize money by revenue share because Wimbledon is a non-profit organisation.
That leaves the broader demands untouched. The player group says the higher prize money does not settle contributions to a player welfare fund, a revenue-sharing formula or a player council, while the All England Club believes a player council would give both sides a place to discuss those issues. The players have also said they expect the grand slam tournaments to respond formally to those other points before any move toward agreeing that council.
So the immediate story is not only that Wimbledon has increased the money on offer for 2026. It is that the tournament has answered one part of a much larger dispute, while the next round of answers may matter just as much to the players who shape the sport’s biggest stages.
