Are we going to a social movement in Roland-Garros? The protest does not come from employees who work on the Parisian tournament, but more surprisingly, from players. They believe they do not receive their just part of the cake.
read later
To save this article, connect or create a Monfranceinfo account
Without payment. Without subscription.
Create your account
connect
Close the presentation window
-
Published the 18/04/2025 08:44 Reading time: 2min
The discontent rises to tennis players who will participate in Roland-Garros from May 19. However, the tournament announced Thursday, April 17, that it planned to increase the amount of premiums of players by 5.2%, which brings the overall allocation to be distributed to more than 56 million euros to distribute. The biggest gain – 2.55 million euros – will obviously return to the winner, whether for the woman or man ranking. Then, it is declining: 1.2 million for the finalist, nearly 700,000 for the semi-finalists, etc. Knowing that elimination in the first round brings in 78,000 euros.
But players believe that it is not enough. They had written, a few weeks ago, to the organizers of the Grands Chelems, Roland-Garros but also Wimbeldon, or the Asutralia or the United States to alert. They believe that these “prize money”, that’s how they are called in English, are not up to par. Especially with regard to what these tournaments report which are very followed by.
In Roland-Garros, the organizers of the competition can count on audiovisual rights, which have been boosted by night sessions, since there are now matches in the evening. Last year, more than 43 million French people watched at least a minute from the tournament.
In Paris, attendance continues to progress. In 2024, the Parisian tournament was played on closed counters, even if there were controversies over empty stands, more than 670,000 tickets were sold. In total, Roland-Garros recorded nearly 350 million euros in revenue in 2024. Players consider that the share that is donated to them, around 15-16%, is chick.
The leaders of the French Tennis Federation, including President Gilles Moretton, say they are open to discussions. They want to seek solutions to stop the movement of dissatisfaction with athletes. They only have a few weeks left for this dialogue to succeed.
