Sinner, Sabalenka and other top stars have express 'deep disappointment' over upcoming French Open; here’s why

The 2026 tennis season will be witnessing its second Grand Slam later this month with the French Open set to get underway on 24 May. Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka are among the title favourites heading into Roland Garros, both players currently ranked No 1 in men's and women's singles respectively and hoping to win their maiden clay-court Grand Slam.

Sinner will be especially confident of winning the only Major that's missing from his trophy cabinet in the absence of current title holder Carlos Alcaraz, who withdrew from the tournament due to a wrist injury.

Why Sinner, Sabalenka and other top stars are unhappy

The 2026 French Open, however, is making headlines for the wrong reasons three weeks before the opening round of matches get underway, with Sinner, Sabalenka and other top stars expressing "deep disappointment" in a joint statement.

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The reason behind the players' disappointment is the prize money that is on offer at the French Open this year. The tournament organisers had, after all, announced a 10 per cent hike in the total prize money last month, taking the amount to €61.7 million ($72.1 million) – an increase of €5.3 million  from last year.

The players mentioned in the joint statement, including defending women's champion Coco Gauff but did not include Novak Djokovic, have pointed out that the increase in prize money isn't proportionate to how much the tournament organisers have earned last year. The statement further adds that the players' share of the French Open tournament revenue has gone down from 15.5 per cent in 2024 to a projected 14.9 per cent this year.

"According to tournament officials, French Open generated 395 million euros in revenue in 2025, a 14% year-on-year increase, yet prize money rose by just 5.4%, reducing players’ share of revenue to 14.3%," read the joint-statement from the players.

"With estimated revenues of over 400 million euros for this year’s tournament, prize money as a percentage of revenue will likely still be less than 15%, far short of the 22% that players have requested to bring the Grand Slams into line with the ATP and WTA Combined 1000 events," it added.

The players have also called for better representation, health and pensions from the French Open organisers in their statement.

Following the prize money hike, the winner of the men's and women's singles competitions will earn €2.8 million while the runners-up in both categories will win €1.4 million. The amount fixed for doubles winners in the men's and women's categories has been set at €600,000 each while the winner of the mixed doubles competition will be taking home €122,000.