Queen's Club women's prize money to increase by 35% for June tournament
The prize money pool for the women's competition at London's Queen's Club tennis tournament will rise by 35% for the 2026 edition in June. Tournament owner LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) announced on Tuesday that the women's total purse will rise from $2.45 million to $3.31 million.
Queen's Club had been a men's-only tournament from 1973 to 2021. In 2025 a decision was taken that was seen as the return of women to this historic venue, and the LTA reintroduced the women's tournament. At last year's first edition, the women's total purse was $2.45 million while the men's figure stood at $2.86 million.
The new prize increase largely closes the gap between the women's and men's tournaments; under the new figure women will earn only 13% less than men. LTA chief Sandi Procter said in her statement: 'This is the second step on the road to equal prize money. We hope to reach full parity by 2027.'
Queen's Club is one of the most important grass-court warm-up tournaments before Wimbledon. The men's tournament has historically had champions including Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. The return of the women's tournament was a deliberate policy to balance the grass-court warm-up calendar alongside Eastbourne, Birmingham and Berlin.
The 2026 tournament prize distribution will be: champion $472,000, runner-up $236,000, semi-finalists $118,000 and first-round losers $11,800. Those increases were applied proportionally across every level, including both first-round losers and the champion.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka wrote on Twitter following the announcement: 'Wonderful news. This step from the LTA can be a model for the entire WTA Tour.' Other top-tier players described the decision as 'bold' and 'market-shifting'.
The women's tournament was launched with the goal of attracting the top 20 players of the grass-court season. Seventeen top-20 players competed in 2025, and the LTA plans to raise that to 19 in 2026. They are invited as direct main-draw entries among the 32 places.
The WTA has also upgraded the Queen's Club tournament from a WTA 250 category to a WTA 500 category starting in 2026. The change boosts the ranking points players earn at the tournament; the champion will now earn 500 ranking points, and the semi-finalist 305.
The main stadium, renamed the Andy Murray Arena, has a total capacity of 9,500. The LTA announced that women's tournament ticket sales are 22% higher than in 2025. Opening-day tickets are already sold out.
On the finance side, the Queen's Club women's prize-money increase is being funded as part of the LTA's long-term investment strategy under the heading 'Supporting British Tennis'. Combined with Wimbledon, the LTA's annual revenue is approaching $410 million, and the body's growth strategy has placed investment in women's tennis as a central policy.