Wimbledon pays £10m to players
THE All england club will pay out a staggering £10million fund to players who missed out on prizemoney due to the cancellation of Wimbledon this summer.
In all, 620 competitors will share the surprise bounty with a financial lifeline being handed to those who would have played in the qualifying event as well. The All england Club, who had pandemic insurance, marked what would have been men’s semi-finals day by unveiling the fund.
Those who would have played in the singles main draw will be given £25,000 each, which is small change to the likes of Roger Federer and
Serena Williams. But players lower down the food chain will hugely benefit from the tournament’s unexpected largesse, which sees £12,500 given to those who would have made the qualifying event on ranking and £6,250 to doubles players.
This is in addition to a host of donations to coronavirus charities well in excess of £1million by Wimbledon.
There is also some unspecified money going to umpires and line judges who would otherwise have been employed during the past fortnight.
While the pandemic insurance is still a long way off being fully processed, it is expected to have saved Wimbledon more than £100m by the time it is fully totted up.
The annual payout to British tennis of approximately £40m should also emerge largely unscathed.
‘Immediately following the cancellation of The Championships, we turned our attention to how we could assist those who help make Wimbledon happen,’ said chief executive Richard Lewis.
‘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 anticipated the opportunity to earn prize money at Wimbledon based on their world ranking.
‘We are pleased that our insurance policy has allowed us to recognise the impact of the cancellation on the players.’
The All England Club also announced that from next year they are to scrap the unique seeding formula for the men’s draw, whereby past grass court form is taken into consideration.
It has been in place since 2002 and the move was overdue. Given that the speed and bounce of the grass courts at SW19 have fallen more into line with other surfaces, there was no longer any justification.
From now on, the seedings will be taken straight off the world rankings — as has been the case in the women’s draw.
It was also confirmed that there will be no public ballot for 2021, given that those who received tickets for this year will be allowed to take the same seats in 12 months.