After the French Open announced an increase in its prize money for its champions, Wimbledon, too, has followed suit.
In a press conference held on Wednesday, the tournament organisers announced that the men’s and women’s singles winners at the event will receive £2.2 million in prize money. This is a 10% increase from the £2 million prize cheque that Andy Murray and Serena Williams picked up after winning the tournament in 2016. The losing finalists will earn £1.1 million.
Since 2011, first round prize money has more than trebled from £11,500 to £35,000… pic.twitter.com/dKfkXCwIIo
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) May 3, 2017
Additionally, Wimbledon has also made notable increments of about 12.5% to its overall prize purse for the tournament, from £28.1 million in 2016 to £31.6 million this year. Accordingly, players losing in the first round are expected to receive £35,000 in prize money.
Interestingly, Wimbledon has also levied a £5 entry fee for those wanting to catch up on the qualifying action. The Wimbledon qualifiers for 2017 will be held from June 26-29 at Roehampton. The tournament itself will be held from July 3-16, with nearly a three-week break following the completion of Roland Garros, which will be held from May 22 to June 11.
With a 3-week grass-court build-up to #Wimbledon, The Championships 2017 begins on 3 July. Some headlines… pic.twitter.com/a5qVHczt2a
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) May 3, 2017
This postponement in the Wimbledon scheduling, the first since the 1895 edition was held on July 8, is due to a few more tournaments being added to the grass season.
These new events include a joint men’s and women’s tournament to be held in Eastbourne, a men’s tournament to be organised in Antalya in Turkey and a joint men’s Challenger and a women’s tournament held in Nottingham.