Wimbledon increases prize money to USD 2.5 million

Wimbledon: The Wimbledon tournament, which is set to begin on June 27, announced 2 million pounds or USD 2.5 million as prize money in this year's edition. On Thursday, the tennis' oldest Grand Slam tournament announced the prize money for each of the two singles champions, Agence France-Presse reported.

Meanwhile, the total prize money has reached 40.35 million pounds, an 11.1 per cent increase from the last year's, which gathered less attendance because of the pandemic. But it is 5.4 per cent more than the 2019 edition, before the pandemic.

But there were speculations that prize funds would reduce after Russian and Belarusian players were decided to ban from the tournament and ranking points by the ATP (men's) and WTA (women's) tours to remove. The controversial decision to ban the mentioned players was due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But excellent capacity crowds are expected, which made the organisers boost the price money.

Players beaten in the first round will receive 50,000 pounds, and the runners-up in the finals could take home one million-plus pounds.

One of the players and former world number one, Naomi Osaka, had stated that she would withdraw from the tournament due to the decision to roll back ranking points but has not yet confirmed.

Chairman of Wimbledon organisers, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), Ian Hewitt, said that from the first round of the qualifying competition to the champions being crowned, the current edition's prize money distribution aims to reflect how important the players are for the tournament.