After the victory of Carlos Alcaraz in Roland Garros, the professional tennis circuit moves to the grass. The third Grand Slam of the season already appears on the horizon, Wimbledon.
He All England Club London It will host the best tennis players in the world one more year and to live up to it, it is preparing the largest distribution of awards in history.
Wimbledon announced the financial amounts of its prizes for its 2024 edition, which starts on July 1 and ends on the 14th, the same day that the final of the European Football Championship is played. Both the winner of the men’s team and the winner of the women’s team will take home the same amount and this represents an increase of 14.9% compared to last year.
Each Wimbledon individual champion will pocket a total of $3.3 million. The last winners were Alcaraz and the Czech Marketa Vondrousova, who took US$2.9 million. This means that, if they win again this year, they will earn around $430,000 more.
It is a total commitment by Wimbledon to make its tournament more attractive. None of the other Grand Slams (Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open) gave such significant financial prizes in the entire history of tennis.
In total, Wimbledon offers a prize pool of US$63.4 million, 11.9% more than the previous year. The prize for players who compete in the first round has also been increased and they will win US$76,000 compared to US$70,000 the previous year.
The most modest prize, the one that corresponds to the losers in the first round of mixed doubles, is US$5.4 thousand per couple.
At Wimbledon, as in all Grand Slam tournaments, there are parity of prizes between the women’s and men’s tournaments.
Complicated schedules
Regarding schedules, the tournament remains faithful to its custom of start late on center court, although this represents a clear risk of not complying with the planned program. This year the ‘Cathedral’ will start again at 1:30 p.m. British (09:30 Argentine time), with three matches on the program, normally two men’s –best of five sets– and a female one, with the risk that if one goes on for too long, some will not be able to be completed within the allowed time and will have to be moved to the next day, transferring the problem to her.
On Court 1 the program will begin at 1:00 p.m. (09:00 a.m. in Argentina). Let’s remember that at Wimbledon There is a time limit, 11:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. in Argentina), by agreement with the local neighborhood. The outer courts begin at 12:00 (08:00 in Argentina). La Central and 1, at least, have a cover that allows interruptions due to rain to be avoided.
Tribute
The tournament of Wimbledon will honor Andy Murraytwo-time winner, in what may be the last participation in the grand slam on grass from the British.
Murray, champion of the tournament in 2013 and 2016, he was the first Briton to win the title of Wimbledon since Fred Perry did it in 1936, in addition to having been number one in the world, winner of 14 Masters 1,000 and two-time Olympic gold medalist.
The Scot has not yet set a definitive date for his retirement, but he said months ago that he does not plan to play beyond the summer, so this Wimbledon, almost certainly, will be his last participation at the All England Club.
The tournament, as explained today Sally Bolton, executive president of the tournament, is planning a tribute, but insisted that “the decision lies with Andy.” “We are ready, but it is Andy’s decision. We are prepared for what he decides. We can adapt,” said Bolton, who did not rule out the inauguration of a statue of Murray in the facilities in the future, like the one that already exists in Perry at the entrance to center court.
Murray, who fell this week in the first round of Stuttgartwill play the Wimbledon tournament in singles and also in doubles, along with his brother Jamie Murray.
Source: Ambito
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