Wimbledon 2018 to Offer 7.6% Increase in Prize Money

Published 05/01/2018, 12:52 PM EDT

For the Wimbledon 2018 Grand Slam, the authorities have announced a hefty prize hike by 7.6%. Besides that, they also announced a new sustainability project aimed at maintaining the greenery of the grass courts at the All England Club, among other things.

The 34 million pound figure also includes 2.25 million pounds each for the men’s and women’s champions. The figure is more than the prize money awarded in 2017.

They also took a stand against insulting the spirit of the game. To be precise, they issued a warning that players who knowingly compete with an injury and quit mid-match will be docked all their first-round prize money. The move was introduced in the aftermath of a spate of early retirements last year.

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“In the wake of first-round withdrawals we pledged to act on it, and we have done so. 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 retirements.”

According to 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 percent.

The tournament organisers also reaffirmed their commitment to combating corruption in the sport and even rolled out a sustainability programme.

One of the sustainable ideas was the ban on plastic straws. Others included introduction of electric vehicles; additional water-fill points and provision of paper bags at merchandise shops.

“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 minimises the impact on our environment.”

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Organisers also reiterated they would be implementing rules first announced last November.

Also, if a player pulls out of a match or performs “below professional standards”, action will be taken. The tournament organisers will enforce warm-up timing to speed up the game. They will also extend the time allowed between points from 20 to 25 seconds.

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The Wimbledon 2018 prize money outweighs the 30.2 million pounds at January’s Australian Open. It is also just short of the 34.5 million pounds offered at the French Open.

The U.S. Open has not announced its prize money yet. This year’s Wimbledon championships marks the 150th anniversary of the club, 50 years of Open tennis and 125 years of the women’s singles championships.

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.