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Wimbledon announces increase in prize money amid players’ push for greater share of profits

The singles champions will receive three million pounds each, the highest across all Grand Slams and a 11.1% increase on the prize money Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova took home last year.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic, top, returns to Russia's Andrey Rublev in a men's singles match. (AP)

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) has increased its prize money pool for Wimbledon by 7 percent compared to last year for the upcoming tournament just over two months after 20 leading players fired a letter to the heads of the Grand Slams demanding a bigger share of revenue. The men’s and women’s singles champions will receive 3 million pounds at this year’s edition, while players who lose in the first round will earn 66,000 pounds, a 10 percent increase on last year.

Doubles prize money has also increased by 4.4 percent, mixed doubles by 4.3 percent and the wheelchair and quad wheelchair events by 5.6 percent. “We have listened to the players, we have engaged with the players,” AELTC chair Deborah Jevans said.

Jevans also said that the increase in prize money is only a temporary fix. “But the focus on just the prize money at the four events, the Grand Slams, does not get to the heart of what the challenge is with tennis. The challenge with tennis is the fact that the players don’t have an off-season which they want, they have increasing injuries that they’re speaking about,” she said. Jevans added that Wimbledon is willing to engage and talk with the tours to try and find solutions but there has not been any proposal as to how the tour is able to change its structure.

FINAL AT 4 P.M.

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The AELTC also said the doubles finals on the weekend would start at 1 p.m. local time and the singles finals at 4 p.m. Such a change could potentially change playing conditions – like having the roof closed and the lights switched on – if the match runs long and well into the night. The French Open final this month where Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner lasted five hours and 29 minutes, but AELTC chief executive Sally Bolton said the change in timing would ensure an “improved experience” for all.

“Whether that’s the doubles finalists having greater certainty over their schedule, whether it’s the fans having the opportunity to experience a day which builds to the crescendo of the singles finals or ensuring that we have our champions crowned in front of the widest possible audience,” she said.

NO LINE JUDGES

This year’s championships also marks a break with an age old tradition where line judges will be replaced for the first time with the electronic line calling system that is in place at tournaments worldwide. Bolton said “the time is right to move on”, adding that many line judges would return in different roles as match assistants, with two assigned per court.

“They’re extra eyes and ears, the assistant to the chair umpire… We’ve got about 80 of those across the Championships. They’ll also provide one of the parts of our resilience in the event that the electronic line calling system goes down at any point in time.”