{"id":7529,"date":"2026-06-27T16:35:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/sabalenka-defends-wimbledon-prize-protest-says-its-for-struggling-players\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T16:35:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:35:25","slug":"sabalenka-defends-wimbledon-prize-protest-says-its-for-struggling-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/sabalenka-defends-wimbledon-prize-protest-says-its-for-struggling-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabalenka defends Wimbledon prize protest, says it\u2019s for struggling players"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><a target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/fifa-world-cup-2026\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"22.5\" width=\"222.75\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Post-Label-Image-Option-1-1780213226.png?fit=396%2C40&#038;quality=80\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"World Cup 2026 post label\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The world number one is in a group of players seeking a greater prize return at Grand Slams.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Wimbledon top seed \u200cAryna Sabalenka has defended a prize-money protest by leading players despite the grasscourt Grand \u2060Slam increasing its \u2060pot by a record 20 percent this year.<\/p>\n<p>The world number one is in a group represented by former WTA chief executive Larry Scott, who are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/5\/23\/french-open-has-positive-meeting-with-players-over-tennis-dispute\">demanding a bigger slice<\/a> of \u2060the Grand Slam pie and improved player welfare.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/toxic-bielsa-leaves-nothing-good-behind-in-uruguay-shock-world-cup-exit\">Toxic Bielsa leaves \u2018nothing good\u2019 behind as Uruguay suffer World Cup shock<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/cape-verde-break-record-as-smallest-nation-to-reach-world-cup-knockouts\">Cape Verde break record as smallest nation to reach World Cup knockouts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/joy-disappointment-protests-a-view-from-egypt-iran-world-cup-tie\">Joy, disappointment, protests: A view from Egypt-Iran World Cup tie<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/27\/which-teams-have-qualified-for-the-world-cup-2026-knockouts-round-of-32\">World Cup knockouts: Who has made it to the round of 32 stage?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Wimbledon\u2019s 64.2 million pounds ($84.7m) pot this year equates to about 15 percent of the tournament\u2019s revenue, short of the 16 percent about 70 million pounds ($92.4m) that the players sought.<\/p>\n<p>As at the French Open, where \u2060Sabalenka and others restricted their pre-tournament media duties in protest, the Belarusian held a shortened news conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great start, they raise the prize money. It\u2019s an amazing start. If you look over the last 10 years, if you compare the prize money to 2016, it\u2019s kind of like the same [as a percentage] because \u200cit went down,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really hope we can finally get to the table and really get it done, come to a conclusion that everyone\u2019s going to be happy with. Hopefully, we\u2019ll never have to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A first Wimbledon title would earn Sabalenka 3.6 million pounds ($4.7m), up from the 3 million pounds ($4m) paid to 2025 champions Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n<p>First-round losers will receive 80,000 pounds ($106,000), up from 66,000 pounds ($87.1m).<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether top players\u2019 complaints, given many are multimillionaires, might not sit well with a public facing rising ticket \u2060and food prices, the four-time Grand Slam singles champion said, \u201cWe do it \u2060for the tour, we don\u2019t do it for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do it for the rest of the players who are suffering to even hire a coach. It\u2019s not an easy life for lower-ranked players.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m more than sure the crowd understand. I mean, we\u2019re \u2060playing matches, we\u2019re there, we\u2019re competing, we\u2019re bringing the show. Now, we are just limiting our media. We\u2019re just trying to get to something that \u2060everyone is happy with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The All England Club said this week it \u2060was \u201csurprised and disappointed\u201d by the protest and that its proposed player council to resolve issues had been rejected. \u201cThis year\u2019s total prize money is the largest increase in our event\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>This is alongside investing hundreds of millions of pounds in upgrades to our \u200cplayer facilities as part of a three-year transformation to create a world class player performance environment,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka, 28, arrived at Wimbledon with her confidence dented after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/6\/4\/sabalenka-mentally-off-track-as-french-open-exit-made-her-want-to-quit\">imploding at the French Open<\/a> and losing \u200cthe \u200clast 10 games of her quarterfinal against Russian Diana Shnaider.<\/p>\n<p>She said she has now moved on from that with the help of her psychologist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOverall, I feel like things are clicking back together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world number one is in a group of players seeking a greater prize return at Grand Slams. Wimbledon top seed \u200cAryna Sabalenka has defended a prize-money protest by leading players despite the grasscourt Grand \u2060Slam increasing its \u2060pot by a record 20 percent this year. The world number one is in a group represented &#8230; <a title=\"Sabalenka defends Wimbledon prize protest, says it\u2019s for struggling players\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/sabalenka-defends-wimbledon-prize-protest-says-its-for-struggling-players\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Sabalenka defends Wimbledon prize protest, says it\u2019s for struggling players\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}