The men’s and women’s singles champions at Wimbledon will each receive £2.25m ($3.07 million), an increase from £2.2m in 2017.
The overall prize pot at the prestigious tournament has been increased to £34m, a 7.6% rise on £31.6m from last year.
Opening round losers will get a paycheck of 39,000 pounds ($53,000), but they will be forced to forfeit the prize money if they pull out of their respective matches due to an injury or their performance is deemed as ‘below professional standards’.
The All England Club, the organizers of the event, warned players who opt to participate while being injured and retire mid-match. If they do compete in the tournament and retire mid-match, they will be docked of their entire first round prize money.
The new rule has been introduced to prevent injured players from taking part in the competition. The move came as no surprise to anyone as the tournament witnessed a series of retirements in the early rounds last year and the AELTC was heavily criticized for not penalizing the players.
“In the wake of first-round withdrawals we pledged to act on it, and we have done so,” Wimbledon chief executive Richard Lewis told reporters.
“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.”
Under the new rules as mentioned on Wimbledon.com: “Any main draw singles player who is unfit to play and withdraws on-site after 12pm on Thursday before the start of the main draw will now receive 50% of the first round prize money. The replacement lucky loser will receive the remaining 50%, plus any additional prize money earned thereafter.”
