Wimbledon Championship is just around the corner and with the stripping off its ranking points, many players have decided to leave the grass court major. This has derived a lot of criticism from people around the world, as some of the big names will be absent.

To increase the appeal of the tournament, Wimbledon has decided to increase the prize money of the tournament and has tried to increase the popularity of the sport despite the ban.

Wimbledon increases prize money

Wimbledon has increased the prize money by 11.1% of what it was in 2021. Wimbledon’s prize money would be $50.4 million this year. Not just that, it represents a 5.4% increase from 2019’s pre-pandemic tournament level.

The winner of the singles will be able to bag the prize money of approximately $2.5 million.

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The runners-up for both the singles tournaments will bag around $1.2 million each. Players who will lose in the first round of the tour will pocket roughly around $63,000.

Ban by grass-court major on Russian and Belarusian players

Wimbledon Championship has banned the Russian and Belarusian players from playing the grass-court major. This came in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This has derived a lot of criticism from famous players like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

The WTA and ATP have stripped the grass court major from the ranking points following this band. This eventually led to players withdrawing from the grass-court major.

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Wimbledon has also warned the WTA and ATP of filing a lawsuit against them on the basis of a long-standing agreement. Nonetheless, it has been making efforts on its end to attract more players.

Wimbledon’s plan to host full-capacity crowds after three years because of the pandemic at London’s All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.