Venus, Murray get Wimbledon wild cards; prize money reduced

Former Wimbledon champions Venus Williams and Andy Murray will receive wild cards to compete in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament when it starts in less than two weeks.

The men's and women's singles winners will each get $2.4 million, a nearly 28% decrease from 2019, although the overall reduction in prize money is 5.2%, the All England Club also announced Wednesday.

Organizers highlighted plans to have a full crowd of 15,000 at Centre Court for the men's and women's finals next month, a year after the tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament begins June 28.

Five-time champion Williams was runner-up in 2017, when she lost to Garbiñe Muguruza. Williams, who has slipped out of the top 100, turns 41 on Thursday. The former world No. 1 won Wimbledon in 2000, '01, '05, '07, and '08. She lost her opening match at the French Open on June 1.

Murray, a two-time champion at Wimbledon, earned his first victory in more than a year on Tuesday at the Queen's Club tournament. It was the 34-yearold Murray's first grass-court match in three years.

The 124th-ranked British player, a former world No. 1, won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016. The often-injured Murray is trying to come back from two hip surgeries.

Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz was also given a wild card.

The total prize money will be just under $49.5 million, down from $52.1 million in 2019. The biggest decrease (27.7%) is for the men's and women's singles winners, who earned $3.3 million last time. The club said factors included crowd constraints, a "substantial investment" in player accommodations and testing programs.

"As in previous years, and particularly in this challenging year for tour players, the focus of distribution has been on supporting players in the early rounds of the tournament," the club said, citing a 6.7% increase in firstround prize money in singles and a 17% increase in wheelchair and quad wheelchair events.

Under an agreement with the government, capacity will begin at 50%.

As part of a trial COVID-19-status certification, fans must show proof of either vaccinations or a negative lateral flow test. They can also show "their natural immunity" through a positive PCR test in the prior six months.

Face masks will be required while moving around the grounds but not while fans are seated.

Wimbledon's cancellation in 2020 was the first time since World War II that the tournament hadn't been played.

Roger Federer fails to make Halle Open quarterfinals for 1st time

Roger Federer failed to reach the Halle Open quarterfinals for the first time Wednesday when Félix Auger-Aliassime rallied from a set down to stun the former champion 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.

The 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime is 19 years younger than the Swiss great, who has won the Halle tournament a record 10 times. Both share the same birthday – Aug. 8.

Federer had been going for his 18th quarterfinal in as many appearances at the grass-court tournament, but was unable to deal with his young opponent's change of tactics in the second set. Auger-Aliassime targeted the backhand with his strong serves and the Canadian player converted three break opportunities to win in 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Auger-Aliassime next faces German Jan-Lennard Struff, who shocked top-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday, or American qualifier Marcos Giron.

Also Wednesday, Andrey Rublev defeated Australia's Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-4 and veteran home favorite Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Corentin Moutet of France 6-4, 7-6 (4).