Wimbledon Prize Money Rises By 6.2%
The All England Lawn Tennis Club has confirmed that total prize money for this year’s Wimbledon Championships will rise by 6.2% to £12.55m.
In another year-on-year increase, the men’s and women’s singles champions will collect £850,000 each – an increase of 13.3% on last year.
This year’s Championship will be first to utilise the new roof over Centre Court which will allow play to continue as late as 2200 BST when the tournament begins on 22nd June.
After two years of construction work, the roof includes fitted floodlights meaning bad light will no longer be a factor.
The All England Club will schedule matches in the same manner as 2008, but with no cut-off time for play to end.
Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the All England Club, said: ‘We’d prefer to play outdoors. If we can, we would prefer to keep the roof open as much as possible.
‘But, if we start with it shut, we will finish with it shut. The opening and closing is at the discretion of the referee, as at other Grand Slams.’
Tournament referee Andrew Jarrett will consider the weather conditions at around 45 minutes before play is due to start and then decide whether to start play with the roof closed.
The roof will take 8-10 minutes to close and a further 20-30 minutes is required for the air management system to create the correct conditions.
While the roof is being deployed, the existing court covers will be pulled across the playing surface.
A test event for the new roof involving Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters will take place on 17th May.
The rebuilt Centre Court has an increased capacity of 15,000 from 13,800, while a new 4,000-capacity Court Two will also open for the first time, taking the total ground capacity up to 40,000 spectators.
