Wimbledon has announced a massive 20 per cent bump in prize money – the biggest percentage increase in the tournament’s history – to a total of £64.2million for this year’s Championships.
The rise of over £10m from £53.5m last year comes in the context of a revolt from top players over prize money. At the recent French Open the complainants took their most militant step so far by restricting their pre-tournament press duties to 15 minutes.
In the most highly-charged prize money announcement in recent times, given the background, the All England Club revealed that this year’s men’s and women’s singles champions will earn £3.6m each (up from £3m) and that first-round losers will get £80,000 (up from £66,000).
After the French Open made only a 9.5 per cent increase, this big boost by Wimbledon will surely be well received and should be considered a victory for the campaigning players.
The Australian Open this year increased prize money by 16 per cent, and last year’s US Open by 20 per cent – a figure which Wimbledon have now matched.
Wimbledon has announced a massive 20 per cent bump in prize money to a total of £64.2million for this year’s Championships
‘I would hope the players would welcome it,’ said All England Club chair Debbie Jevans. ‘It’s a significant amount of money. We’ve looked at every round, including qualifying – there is a 25 per cent increase in qualifying – so my hope is the players do recognise what a significant increase this is.’
A group of players, including most of the top 10 on both the men’s and women’s sides, are looking for the Slams to guarantee to give 22 per cent of their gross revenue in prize money – the approximate percentage given by the regular tour Masters events, once various bonuses are taken into account.
The Slams’ position has been that this is an unfair comparison, given the Masters events operate as for-profit businesses, whereas the majors put all their surplus cash back into developing the tournament and grass roots tennis (in Wimbledon’s case via a donation of 90 per cent of profits, after prize money, to the Lawn Tennis Association).
Wimbledon’s revenue for the Championships last year was £427m, so this year’s prize money works out as 15 per cent of that total – well below the 22 per cent players are seeking.
But Jevans issued a robust defence of the Club’s prize money policy: ‘We have always been clear that we’re on the side of the players but using revenue to determine prize money, it just makes no sense. And we have said that to Larry Scott (a former player and now sports administrator who is representing the disputing players).
‘Revenue does not take into account the investment that we give. We’re not for profit, we’re very different to Masters 1000s in that everything goes back into the sport. So I am frustrated that that message hasn’t gone across, but we’re hoping that will get across for the players to understand the investment back into the game, which is so very, very important.’
The spectre in the background of all this is the lawsuit launched against tennis’s governing bodies by the PTPA, a players’ union of sorts co-founded by Novak Djokovic in 2020, although the Serb stepped away from the organisation in January. Among the many complaints in the lawsuit is that prize money is too low and the tennis calendar is bloated, driving players to exhaustion and injury.
Jevans said: ‘We need to continue working to improve the whole of the sport: major improvements that address governance, strengthen the calendar, and lengthen the off-season. A step to achieve this is a channel for dialogue for the players. And this will give them, and us, the opportunity, the deeper relationships, and the stronger understanding of the responsibilities that we all share.
‘There is much more I would like to say about the opportunities to unlock the full potential of our sport. But due to the PTPA’s litigation against us, we have to contend with significant restraints on what we can say here, and the types of conversations that we’re able to have. It is my hope that in the future, all of the stakeholders in the sport are able to come together and chart a new and better power forward.’
Wimbledon have offered to set up a player council to discuss such issues and any changes to be made in future, but this offer has been rejected. Players want to see more progress being made towards meeting their demands first – it remains to be seen whether this record prize money increase is enough to stave off protest or unrest at the Championships.
