Wimbledon to pay players despite event cancellation
The 620 players who qualified for Wimbledon will receive pay despite the tournament’s cancellation.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club announced Friday that it will distribute a prize pool of US$12.6 million to the players who either would have played in the qualifiers or the main draw. The club had insurance in the case of a cancelled tournament, and the proceeds are being used for the payments.
The Grand Slam grass-court tournament had been scheduled for June 29 to July 12.
Based on their world rankings, the 224 players who would have competed in the qualifiers will receive $15,788, with the 256 players set for main draw singles to earn twice that amount ($31,576). Main draw doubles players each will be paid $7,894. The 20 players scheduled to compete in wheelchair events will receive between $6,315 and $7,578.
“Immediately following the cancellation of The Championships, we turned our attention to how we could assist those who help make Wimbledon happen. We know these months of uncertainty have been very worrying for these groups, including the players, many of whom have faced financial difficulty during this period and who would have quite rightly anticipated the opportunity to earn prize money at Wimbledon based on their world ranking,” Richard
Lewis, Wimbledon’s chief executive, said in a statement.
“We are pleased that our insurance policy has allowed us to recognize the impact of the cancellation on the players and that we are now in a position to offer this payment as a reward for the hard work they have invested in building their ranking to a point where they would have gained direct entry into The Championships 2020.”
American Alison Riske, ranked No. 19 in the world, thanked Wimbledon on Friday via Twitter, writing, “pure class @Wimbledon. But we already knew that; thank you.”
Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam event to be cancelled amid the pandemic.
The Australian Open took place, as scheduled, in January. The U.S. Open remains set for New York from Aug. 31-Sept. 13, and the rescheduled French Open is slated to begin on Sept. 20.