Wimbledon Announces IncreaseIn Prize Money.

The All England Club announced on
Tuesday a staggering increase of $9.9
million (£6.5 million) in the total
prize money for the winner of the
Wimbledon Grand Slam.
The club calls the 40% increase the
largest single increase and the
biggest total prize fund in the
history of professional tennis.
The total prize money for this year's
Grand Slam event will be $34.4
million (£22.6 million), with the
men's and women's singles
champions each pocketing $2.4
million (£1.6 million). Rodger
Federer and Serena Williams each
received $1.75 million (£1.15 million)
for last year.
"These are significant increases and
we have made them because we
wanted to and not because we had
to," All England Club chairman Philip
Brook told reporters at the news
conference on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the club said it intends
to have a roof installed over Court
No. 1 in time for the 2019
tournament. A retractable roof has
been in place on the Centre Court
since 2009 to cope with the rain
delays that have affected
Wimbledon.
"The design process will take two
years and then, in view of the fact
that the Centre Court Roof took three
years to construct, we are looking at
2019 for it to be working."
On the financial justifications of a
prize money increase at a time when
many people struggled to afford
tickets for the tournament due to a
harsh economic climate, Brook said
Wimbledon had to compete with
other major sporting events.
"I know the economic climate is
difficult, I accept that, but the world
that we live in is a world where we
are competing with other
international tennis events and we
also keep an eye on what is
happening in other sports.
"We do think that this was a moment
in time when we could respond to
subject that has been spoken about
a lot over the last 18 months and we
have chosen to make these increase
this year because we feel it's the
right thing to do, "Brook said.
The top gainers of the prize money
increase will be players who lose in
the early rounds or in qualifying of
the grass- court championships.
"We started last year focusing the
prize- money increases on those that
lose in the early rounds or
qualifying," Brook told Reuters.
"These are not players who are
superstars (but) players who are
finding their way and not making a
lot of money."
Prize money will go up 60% for
singles players who lose in the first
three rounds. The purse for
qualifying is going up by 41%.
Doubles players will receive a 22%
increase in prize money.
The Grand Slam will begin June 24
and end July 7.