Tennis news: Wimbledon prize money increases to record amount

WIMBLEDON, England –

Wimbledon’s total prize money fund will rise to a record 50 million pounds (about US$64 million), with the singles champions each earning 2.7 million pounds (US$3.45 million), All England Club officials announced Thursday at the annual spring briefing.

The total amount is 5.3 million pounds (US$6.8 million) more than last year, an increase of 11.9 per cent — and exactly twice the 25 million pounds (US$32 million at the current exchange rate) handed out to competitors at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament 10 years ago.

Ticket demand “has never been greater” than it was this year, said Deborah Jevans, the new chair of the All England Club.

The winners’ checks for 2024 represent a jump of 350,000 pounds each (nearly US$450,000), a 14.9 per cent jump.

Players who lose in the first round of singles will get 60,000 pounds (about US$76,000) each, up from 55,000 (US$70,000) in 2023.

The prizes for the qualifying event will go up 14.9 per cent to 4.8 million pounds (about US$6 million).

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, top, plays Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova in a women’s singles semifinal match on day eleven of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP Photo, File)

Other topics addressed by Jevans and Sally Bolton, the club chief executive:

— The club has been in contact with other Grand Slam hosts about the possibility of creating a domestic violence policy. “Clearly that’s something that the sport would want to do on a unified basis,” Bolton said about forming a policy. “It is something that is pertinent and therefore has been discussed.” At the just-concluded French Open, Alexander Zverev competed — and ended up reaching the final — while being involved in a trial in Berlin related to accusations by a former girlfriend of physical abuse during a 2020 argument; the case ended via an out-of-court settlement hours before Zverev played in the semifinals in Paris.

— The club has plans in place to celebrate two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray’s career if, as expected, he announces this will be his last appearance at the tournament. Murray’s 2013 singles title was the first for a British man at the All England Club in 77 years, and he won the tournament again in 2016. “We’ve certainly got plans in place and we’re ready and prepared, but ultimately it’s Andy’s decision,” Bolton said. “We’ll very much be led by him and we can amend our plans accordingly. We’re ready in any eventuality.”

— Centre Court will continue to begin play at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. EDT), despite concerns expressed by Novak Djokovic that such scheduling inevitably leads to late starts for a day’s last match. “We’ve reviewed it, we’ve thought long and hard and looked at the data around length of matches and the trends that are occurring in that space,” Bolton said, “and were very confident and happy with the decision that we’ve made this year.” Added Jevans: “We’re very comfortable with the situation.” Djokovic, who has won seven of his 24 Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon but is expected to miss this year’s tournament after knee surgery, said a year ago that maybe the All England Club should consider opening its main stadium at noon (Court No. 1 starts play at 1 p.m.; smaller courts at 11 a.m.). Because the tournament site is in a residential area, there is an 11 p.m. curfew for competition.