Even though Rolland Garros had a 9.5 percent increase from last year, they were unable to stop the brewing storm. The FTF announced a massive record-breaking $71.5 million prize pool for the 2026 edition, but the stars were far from impressed and even called for a boycott, but had to settle for a different kind of protest.

Even though the overall increase has been a little over 9 percent, the round-wise increase has signaled the federation’s initiative to focus on lower-ranked players. The prize pot in the qualifying competition has increased by 12 percent, meaning players ranked 150 or lower will receive a larger share of the prize. The early rounds’ pot rose by 6–11% as the later rounds rose 7–8%

The prize money for the first three rounds of this year’s French Open is $101,670, $151,921, and $218,532. The fourth round has a prize pool of $333,057, a 7.55 percent increase. The lowest increase for a round has been seen in the quarterfinals, where players will receive a reward of $549,251, a 6 percent increase from last year.

The losing semifinalists will receive an 8.7 percent increase over last year, totaling $876,465. Last year, the two singles champions, Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff, took home nearly $2.9 million, while the runner-up duo of Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka earned approximately $1.4 million.

This year, the losing finalist will receive a prize of $1,636,068, a 9.8 percent increase from last year. The singles champion at Roland Garros this year will take home over 3.2 million, a 9.8 percent increase from last year.

This year’s doubles champion has been awarded $697,504, about 1.69 percent more than last year. The French Open is still ahead of the Australian Open, which gave away 2.9 million to the singles champion and $1.5 million to the runner-up this year, despite a 14 percent increase from the previous year.

However, when it comes to prize money among the slams, the US Open is the standard, having announced a whopping $90 million prize pool, with the champion getting $5 million and the runner-up $2.5 million.

Prize money had become a central part of the conversation leading up to the French Open, as many players were unhappy with the increase implemented by the French Tennis Federation.

Prize Money Was at the Center of Controversy at This Year’s French Open

Despite a nearly 10 percent increase in prize money, players have been discontent with the financial arrangements at the French Open. Top players like Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, and Jannik Sinner were vocal about the increase in revenue sharing between players and the Grand Slam tournaments. While Tour-level events offer players a 22 percent share of total revenue, Grand Slams offer 15 percent.

The atmosphere grew tense when Sabalenka, the world’s top-ranked female player, spoke about the potential boycott of the French Open if their demands are not met. Even Sinner echoed similar sentiments at the press conference during the Italian Open.

The players showed that they were serious about their commitment to the cause when they took the unique measure of limiting their media time to just 15 minutes, a symbolic gesture, to protest against the current situation. However, since then, there have been subsequent meetings between the governing bodies and player representatives, who have been satisfied with the direction of the negotiations.

These events come exactly 52 years after the Roland Garros boycott saga. In 1974, the FTF banned men’s World No. 2 Jimmy Connors and women’s Australian Open champion Evonne Goolagong for signing with the newly formed, US-based World Team Tennis (WTT) league.

Even a couple of years ago, current players complained about the pay disparities, but the mere threats from then have translated into actionables now.