Before the start of the upcoming season in July, Wimbledon announced a record prize money of a whopping 40.3 million pounds. This year, the tournament will also host a full-capacity audience for the first time after the pandemic. The men’s and women’s singles winners each will get 2 million pounds, according to the organizers.
“From the first round of the qualifying competition to the champions being crowned, this year’s prize money distribution aims to reflect just how important the players are to The Championships…,” said Ian Hewitt, Chairman of the All England Club.
Athletes in the Wimbledon finals will receive more than £1 million each
Last year’s prize pool was just above 35 million pounds, with winners Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty each taking home 1.7 million pounds. The £40.35 million prize pool has an 11.1 percent surge from last year’s Championships. It’s also 5.4 percent higher than the previous ‘regular’ edition of Wimbledon, which took place in 2019. Players eliminated after the first round of the singles will receive £50,000. Meanwhile, the athletes in the finals will receive more than £1 million each.
Wimbledon begins on June 27, with Novak Djokovic defending his men’s singles championship. However, there will be no defending women’s champion after Ashleigh Barty of Australia retired in March. The men’s ATP and women’s WTA took away ranking points from the grass-court grand slam event. This decision came after Wimbledon decided to prohibit players from Russia and Belarus due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moscow refers to this as a “special operation.”