Wimbledon announces record 34m prize-pot
News & Trends •
with pound signs dominating the headlines at the club in leafy south-west london tournament organisers also underlined their commitment to combating corruption in the sport and rolling out a sustainability program1 wimbledon announced a hefty 34 million prize-pot on tuesday along with a new sustainability project aimed at ensuring it is not just the grass courts that remain green at the all england club1 that figure includes awards of 2.25 million each for the mens and womens champions an increase on the 2.2 million roger federer and garbine muguruza received in 20171 wimbledons 2018 prize money eclipses the 55 million australian dollars 41.32 million paid out at januarys first grand slam of the year in melbourne but at current exchange rates is just shy of the 39.2 million euros 47.18 million on offer at the french open starting later this month1 organizers also issued a warning that players who compete while knowingly carrying an injury and quit mid-match face being docked all their first-round prize money. the move is aimed at preventing a repeat of the rash of retirements in early action last year1 in the wake of first-round withdrawals we pledged to act on it and we have done so wimbledon chief executive richard lewis told reporters1 we were very influential in the creation and adoption of the 50-50 rule and hope the introduction of it will play a significant role in mitigating the problems of first-round singles retirements1 under the new rule if an injured player withdraws onsite after midday on the thursday before the championships they will receive 50 percent of the first-round prize money. the replacement lucky-loser will get the other 50 percent1 organizers of the oldest grand slam tournament revealed the prize fund the equivalent of 46.57 million for the 2018 championships up 7.6 percent from last year1 central to the greening of the championships is a ban on plastic straws some 400000 were used at last years tournament the introduction of electric vehicles in the courtesy car fleet additional water-fill points around the grounds and the provision of paper bags at wimbledons shops1 sustainability is an important and necessary area of focus particularly for major events lewis said. we have put in place a sustainability vision which is to sustain the running of the club and the championships in a way that minimizes the impact on our environment1 organizers also reiterated they would be implementing rules first announced last november1 in addition to stripping players of their first-round prize money if they pull out of a match or perform to what the club deems below professional standards wimbledon will strictly enforce warm-up timing to speed up the game but will also extend the time allowed between points from 20 to 25 seconds1 the u.s. open the final grand slam of the tennis calendar starting in august is yet to announce its prize money1 wimbledon the only grand slam event to be played on grass will take place from july 2-151 this years championships mark the 150th anniversary of the club 50 years of open tennis and 125 years of the womens singles championships1