The China Mail - Wimbledon prize money pot increased to £64.2 million

All England Club chiefs revealed the substantial cash boost for players during a pre-tournament press conference on Thursday.

The Wimbledon singles' champions will now pocket £3.6million each.

Italy's Jannik Sinner is the reigning men's champion, while Poland's Iga Swiatek won the women's event last year.

Even first round losers will be richly compensated at Wimbledon this year, with £80,000 allocated to players beaten at that stage.

The Wimbledon raise comes after several of the world's top players staged a protest prior to the recent the French Open by limiting media activities to 15 minutes.

The players were frustrated that prize money at Roland Garros only increased by 9.5 percent from 2025 and stayed at around 15 percent of the revenue generated from the clay-court tournament.

It is believed the players want the prize fund to be closer to 22 percent of the tournament's revenue.

Wimbledon's increase is from £53.5 million last year to £64.2 million for this year's event, which starts in south-west London on June 29.

"I recognise there is one topic you are most interested in hearing about this morning and that's prize money," Wimbledon chair Debbie Jevans told reporters on Thursday.

"For 2026 the prize money fund will be £64.2 million, that is a 20 percent increase on last year and £10.7 million uplift which allows players to continue to share in our success.

"Our support for players is distributed throughout the draw. Gentleman and Ladies singles' champions will each receive £3.6 million and first-round prize money is set at £80,000, so players that lose in the first round will share more than £5 million in prize money.

"These figures represent a substantial increase in prize money."

Wimbledon CEO Sally Bolton met with the players' representative Larry Scott at Roland Garros last month to discuss the prize money issue.

"There has been no dialogue with the players direct but we have had dialogue with Larry Scott, who has been appointed by some of players to represent them," Jevans said.

"We have had dialogue, email exchanges and a meeting in Paris. After Paris you have all read the 22 percent and £70 million, what we have done is right and appropriate.

"We begin looking at prize money in January. We looked at investment in facilities, in grassroots and player prize money. I would hope the players would welcome it."

J.Liv--ThChM