The acceleration in the size of the prize money pot at Wimbledon "continues to slow," but the grasscourt championships remain the richest of the four grand slams, according to Martyn Herman of REUTERS. All England Club officials announced on Tuesday a 7% overall rise, compared to 10.8% last year and 40% in '13, taking the total fund to £26.75M ($40.88M). The singles champions will pocket £1.88M ($2.8M) compared to the £1.76M handed to Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitová in '14. First-round losers will receive £29,000 ($44,400) compared to £11,250 five years ago -- a 152% rise "driven by a commitment to reward the rank and file pros" (REUTERS, 4/28). The BBC reported courts 14 and 15 "will come back into use after being re-laid following development works, bringing the total ground capacity at SW19 to 39,000, compared to 38,500 in 2014." And use of Hawk-Eye "has been extended to courts 12 and 18." That means "the technology will be in action on six courts across the championships," which run from June 29-July 12 (BBC, 4/28). In London, Barry Flatman wrote All England Club Chair Philip Brook announced the '15 prize money by declaring, "This year’s prize fund will be the highest ever in professional tennis." As a former actuary, Brook "is well aware of the importance of getting his financial facts right" and certainly the overall '15 prize fund of £26.75M, including £20.6M ($31.5M) for the men’s and ladies' singles, which showed an 8% annual increase on last year’s total, fits the bill. However, should Djokovic win both Wimbledon and the US Open titles this year, according to current exchange rates, he "will leave London with less money than the champion of New York is expected to gather" (LONDON TIMES, 4/28). The PA reported Brook insisted that tennis’ top names "are not overpaid, despite Wimbledon hiking prize money again." Brook: "Without the world’s best tennis players we wouldn’t have the world’s best tennis tournament. And we recognize the players are an essential ingredient of our championships. The level of prize money is affordable to this championship, so we feel it’s important that we should reflect that in what we pay the players." All England Club CEO Richard Lewis "ruled out any of Wimbledon’s broadcasting coverage switching to satellite services." He said, "There was a lot of speculation. It was pretty wild speculation. The fact is that it’s our decision. There’s absolutely no intention to go down that route whatsoever." Brook confirmed the All England Club was "reluctantly" forced to turn down the chance to host Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarterfinal (PA, 4/28).
