All England Club Raises Tennis Tourney's Stakes To Record $30M

The prize pot at this summer’s Wimbledon championship is set to leap by 25% to a record £20M ($30M) after the All England Club "bowed to demands from players that they needed a greater share of the tournament’s spoils," according to Nick Harris of the London DAILY MAIL. The Club will detail the hikes in pay on Tuesday, but Inside Sport understands that the singles champions will earn a whopping £1.5M ($2.28M) each, a huge rise of £350,000 ($533,120), or 30%, on last year. The "extraordinary increases in pay will bring Wimbledon in line with the other Grand Slam events upping their prize funds in recent times -- and further rises are on the cards." Wimbledon’s total prize fund of £16.06M in '12, including £1.15M for the singles winners, already represented a 10% rise on '11. Wimbledon and the three other Slam championships have "moved to head off ongoing unrest among players unhappy at the percentage of revenue" from the majors being passed on through prize money (DAILY MAIL, 4/20).