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Wimbledon champs to earn record prize money


 

Originally published on: 19/04/11 16:38

Wimbledon organisers today announced the men’s and women’s champions at this year’s tournament will receive £1.1million in prize money, a 10% increase on last year.

Though still dwarfed by the £1.4million handed out to the winners of this year’s Australian Open – which became the richest Grand Slam of all time this January – the increased sum is another example of the All England Club’s reluctance to rest on their laurels.

“In the competitive world of top level sport, it is important that we offer prize money which suitably rewards the players both for the box office appeal they bring to the event and for their supreme performances on court,” said Philip Brook, Chairman of the All England Club.

The very first Wimbledon champion, Spencer Gore, received a mere 12 guineas for his 1877 triumph, while 100 years later Bjorn Borg took home £15,000 – a positively meagre sum by today’s standards.

The total prize money for the 2011 tournament is set to rise to £14.6million, an increase of 6.4% on the £13.7million offered last year.

Meanwhile, the new No.3 court – equipped with HawkEye technology – and adjacent No.4 court are set to debut at this year’s Championships, with the extra seats helping to increase ground capacity by 1,000 to 38,500.

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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.