Staff Reporter.
Wimbledon has increased its prize money for this year’s championships to £53.5 million ($72.59 million), a seven per cent increase on 2024 and double what they offered a decade ago, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said on Thursday.
The singles champions will receive £3 million each, an 11.1 per cent increase on the prize money Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova took home last year.
Singles players who lose in the first round will receive 66,000 pounds, a 10% increase over 2024. Doubles prize money has also increased by 4.4%, mixed doubles by 4.3% and the wheelchair and quad wheelchair events by 5.6%.
The increase comes after the world’s top players called for significant improvements in prize money at the four Grand Slams as a way to ensure a more equitable distribution of revenue.
“We have listened to the players. We have engaged with the players,” AELTC chair Deborah Jevans said. “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 offseason, which they want; they have increasing injuries that they’re speaking about.”
Jevans said Wimbledon is willing to engage with the tours to try to find solutions, but there has not been any proposal as to how the tour is able to change its structure.
This year’s championships also mark a break with an age-old tradition as line judges will be replaced for the first time with the electronic line calling system that is in place at tournaments worldwide.