Aryna Sabalenka defends Wimbledon protest, insists it is for lower-ranked players

[p]The world number one is in a group represented by former ‌WTA chief executive Larry Scott who are demanding a bigger slice of the Grand Slam ‌pie and improved player welfare.[/p][p]Wimbledon's £64.2 million pot this year equates to about ‌15% of the tournament's revenue, short of the 16% — about £70 million — the players sought.[/p][p]As ‌at the French Open, where [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Sabalenka[/a] and others restricted their pre-tournament ‌media duties in protest, the Belarusian held a shortened press conference.[/p][embed guid="a445e860-4f44-4d50-a613-cd068052b729" url="https://x.com/TennisChannel/status/2070582890795291027" social-type="twitter" /][p]"[b]It's a great start they raise the prize money. It's an amazing start. If you look over the last 10 ‌years, if you compare the prize money to ⁠2016, it's kind of like the ‌same (as a percentage) because it went down[/b]," she told reporters.[/p][p]"[b]I really hope we can finally ​get to the table and really get it done, come to a conclusion that everyone's going to be happy with. Hopefully we'll ​never have to do it again[/b]."[/p][p]A first Wimbledon title would earn Sabalenka £3.6 million, up from the £3 million paid to 2025 champions [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/swiatek-iga/jNyZsXZe/"]Iga Swiatek[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sinner-jannik/6HdC3z4H/"]Jannik ⁠Sinner[/a].[/p][p]First-round losers will receive £80,000, up ​from £66,000.[/p][p]Asked whether top players' complaints, given many are multimillionaires, might not sit well with a public facing rising ticket and food prices, the four-time Grand Slam singles champion said: "We do it for the tour, we don't do it for ‌ourselves."[/p][p]"[b]We do it for the rest of the players who are suffering to even hire a coach. It's not an easy life for lower-ranked players[/b].[/p][p]"[b]I'm more than sure the crowd understand. I mean, we're playing matches, we're there, we're competing, we're bringing the show. Now we are just limiting our media. We're just trying to get to something that everyone is happy with[/b]."[/p][embed guid="01473ac5-c42c-4edb-ad12-80214636b129" url="https://x.com/TennisChannel/status/2070572361116721546" social-type="twitter" /][p]The All England Club said this week it was "surprised and disappointed" by the protest and that its proposed player council to resolve issues had been rejected.[/p][p]"[b]This ‌year's total prize money is the largest increase in our event's history. This ​is alongside investing hundreds of millions of pounds in upgrades to ‌our player facilities as part of a three-year transformation to create a world class player performance environment[/b]," it said.[/p][p]Sabalenka, 28, arrived at Wimbledon with her confidence dented after imploding at the French Open and losing the last 10 games of her quarter-final against Russian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shnaider-diana/028BdVOj/"]Diana Shnaider[/a].[/p][p]She said she ⁠has now moved on from that ⁠with the help of her ‌psychologist.[/p][p]"[b]Overall I feel like things are clicking back together[/b]."[/p]