Petenis Top Dunia Akhiri Protes Boikot Media di Wimbledon

Para petenis putra dan putri terkemuka dunia resmi menyepakati gencatan senjata dengan All England Club (AELTC) pada Senin, 29 Juni 2026, guna mengakhiri aksi protes pembatasan wawancara media sepanjang pekan pertama turnamen Grand Slam Wimbledon 2026.

Langkah ini diambil setelah kedua belah pihak menggelar pertemuan darurat pada akhir pekan demi meredakan perselisihan terkait tuntutan peningkatan alokasi hadiah uang yang telah berlangsung sejak Maret 2025. Dilansir dari The Guardian, para pemain sebelumnya berencana membatasi sesi tanya jawab maksimal 15 menit sebagai kelanjutan aksi serupa di French Open.

Pihak penyelenggara sendiri telah menaikkan total hadiah sebesar 20 persen menjadi 64,2 juta poundsterling, namun jumlah tersebut masih di bawah tuntutan pemain sebesar 71 juta poundsterling atau setara 16 persen dari total pendapatan turnamen.

"Following constructive meetings between player representatives and AELTC leadership over the weekend, players have confirmed they will resume normal tournament media duties from Monday 29 June," ujar perwakilan pemain dalam pernyataan tertulis.

Pihak pemain menegaskan keputusan kembali berinteraksi penuh dengan pers didasari oleh komitmen tertulis dari manajemen All England Club untuk mengajukan proposal formula kompensasi yang baru setelah turnamen usai.

"This decision is based on Wimbledon’s commitment to return with specific proposals addressing all three points of the players’ July 2025 submission. The underlying matters remain unresolved and players will carefully evaluate the proposals once received. Players will also be providing Wimbledon with further information they have requested in connection with those proposals during the course of the tournament.

Constructive dialogue with Wimbledon and the other grand slams will continue. The players and the club will make no further comment at this time." kata perwakilan pemain menambahkan.

CEO All England Club, Sally Bolton, menyambut baik keputusan para atlet untuk kembali fokus sepenuhnya pada jalannya kompetisi di lapangan rumput.

"I think it’s great news that we and they can now just concentrate on the championships and on the tennis," ujar Sally Bolton, CEO All England Club.

Bolton menambahkan bahwa komunikasi lanjutan akan terus berjalan secara positif guna mengevaluasi data finansial yang nantinya diserahkan oleh perwakilan pemain.

"We’ve had some really fruitful conversations over the weekend. They’ve been really positive. We’ve effectively agreed what we had agreed before, which is that we want to continue in positive dialogue, but we’ve been requesting financial information from their representative for quite some time. He (Larry Scott) is going to provide that, and once we’ve got that financial information and we’ve had the chance to have a look at it, we can re-engage with those discussions after the championships." tutur Sally Bolton.

Di sisi lain, petenis asal Inggris, Jack Draper, memberikan pandangannya mengenai perbaikan fasilitas serta kontribusi finansial yang diberikan pihak Grand Slam kepada para atlet musim ini.

"Yeah, I mean, when I signed the letter, it definitely made a lot of sense to me about the player welfare and looking after some of the smaller things," kata Jack Draper, Petenis Inggris.

Draper menilai bahwa langkah yang diambil oleh panitia Wimbledon tahun ini sudah mengalami kemajuan pesat dalam memperhatikan kesejahteraan pemain di balik layar.

"I think the slams can definitely contribute more for the amount the slams bring in. I think the ATP do a really good job of that in general. I think Wimbledon have really done an amazing job this year to increase the prize money.

They’re doing other things behind the scenes that really are helping the players. Yeah, I think Wimbledon as a tournament, and all the Grand Slams, to be fair, they’re improving every single year. I think having more attention on what they’re giving back to the players I think has been a good thing." ujar Jack Draper.

Selain membahas isu hadiah, Draper juga mengenang kembali momen istimewa saat dirinya harus berhadapan dengan Novak Djokovic pada debutnya di lapangan utama beberapa tahun silam.

"Yeah, I think it was a really special experience playing Novak, looking back," ucap Jack Draper.

Pengalaman bertanding melawan salah satu petenis terbaik sepanjang sejarah tersebut diakui Draper memberikan pelajaran mental yang sangat berharga untuk karier profesionalnya.

"I think I was in the Aorangi when they were doing the draw, I saw his name, it was my name. I was like, Wow. A few days to sort of think about it.

It was difficult in a way because I would say my biggest lessons from playing him and sort of I saw it after that as well by playing other matches when I came onto the tour, was almost not playing a match the day before. When I played him, I was already doing my grips. The night before, I was already locked in listening to Gladiator.

I was sort of playing the match five hours before I even faced him. It’s a five-set match. It’s a tough, it’s a long battle.

I just remember playing the first set, thinking like I’ve already been playing this match in my mind for a day, I’m knackered. Obviously he showed his class. I think that day as well, the court was extremely slippy, as well.

I remember that. It was one of those things, it’s like I just started out playing. I was playing the futures.

I didn’t know what I was doing with the tennis anymore. All my dreams of playing the Grand Slams and the big matches seemed like they disappeared when I played the futures, no one is there, no one is watching, in tough places. To play him on Centre Court reminded me why I loved the sport and reminded me why I wanted to be a top player." tutur Jack Draper panjang lebar.

Sementara itu, beralih ke persaingan sektor tunggal putri, juara bertahan Iga Swiatek menyatakan dirinya telah melakukan evaluasi teknis mendalam bersama pelatih barunya, Francisco Roig.

"Pada tahun-tahun awal karier saya, hasil datang secara konsisten dan cepat. Namun kenyataannya olahraga tidak selalu seperti itu. Saya tahu perubahan tidak akan langsung menghasilkan sesuatu, tetapi saya percaya berada di jalur yang benar," kata Iga Swiatek, Petenis Polandia.

Petenis yang kini menempati peringkat tiga dunia tersebut menambahkan bahwa status sebagai juara bertahan menghadirkan tekanan psikologis yang sangat berbeda dibandingkan turnamen lainnya.

"Ini jelas turnamen yang menghadirkan tantangan berbeda ketika Anda datang sebagai juara bertahan," ujar Iga Swiatek.

Swiatek juga menyoroti statistik sejarah Wimbledon yang membuktikan betapa sulitnya seorang petenis putri untuk mempertahankan gelar juara dalam satu dekade terakhir.

"Saya tidak tahu kenapa sulit sekali untuk mengulang kemenangan di sini, bahkan bagi pemain yang sudah berpengalaman dan pernah juara Grand Slam." ucap Iga Swiatek.

Menghadapi putaran babak pertama melawan Taylor Townsend, petenis berusia 25 tahun ini memilih untuk tidak mematok target yang terlalu membebani pikirannya.

"Saya merasa berada di posisi yang berbeda dan sedang mencoba menjaga ekspektasi tetap rendah," kata Iga Swiatek.

Dirinya sadar bahwa dinamika persaingan di lapangan rumput memerlukan adaptasi yang matang dari satu pertandingan ke pertandingan berikutnya.

"Tidak akan mudah karena tahun lalu semuanya berjalan sangat lancar. Sekarang saya harus menemukan ritme lewat pertandingan demi pertandingan." tutur Iga Swiatek.

Swiatek menegaskan bahwa performa terbaiknya hanya bisa diukur secara objektif ketika kompetisi sesungguhnya sudah mulai berjalan.

"Di awal turnamen kita belum benar-benar tahu level permainan kita. Itu baru akan terlihat dari pertandingan ke pertandingan," kata Iga Swiatek menutup penjelasannya.