Wimbledon will increase its prize money to a record $85.7M -- with the winners of the singles titles receiving $4.8M in the “biggest ever uplift in tournament history” -- in a bid to “prevent more player protests ahead of this year’s tournament and in response to the looming threat of civil war in the sport,” according to Jamie Braidwood of the London TELEGRAPH. Wimbledon revealed “a significant” 20% increase from last year’s overall prize pot of $71.4M, with a “substantial boost for the men’s and women’s singles champions” from last year’s $4M. The figure of interest to the sport’s leading stars “is the ratio of prize money to tournament revenue.” They estimated a “declining share” of 14.3% at last month’s French Open. The players have pushed for that figure, across all four grand slams, “to be closer to” 22%. A share of 22% would have been a total prize pool of $94.8M, however, a figure that All England Club Chair Debbie Jevans said made “no sense.” Instead, Jevans “pointed to the investment Wimbledon has made in player facilities, including a multi-million pound development of the Millennium Building and the construction of an improved player performance zone” (London TELEGRAPH, 6/11). BBC.com’s Russell Fuller wrote the players “had been hoping for a sum close to” $95.8M from Wimbledon. The AEC paid the Lawn Tennis Association $64.2M last year, under an agreement in which they “distribute 90% of each year’s surplus to the governing body” (BBC.com, 6/11).
Wimbledon lifts its purse to record number
