The world’s most successful tennis players "will become richer than ever this summer" after Wimbledon announced a 5% increase in prize money, according to Paul Newman of the London INDEPENDENT. Although the pay increases "have slowed in the last three years," at £28.1M ($41M) the total prize money at Wimbledon "is now almost double what it was five years ago" -- £14.6M. The men’s and women’s singles champions will both earn £2M ($2.9M) this summer, which is an increase of 6.4% on what they received last year. First-round losers, meanwhile, will be paid £30,000 ($43,700), which "in some cases could be more than they will earn for the rest of the year." Prize money for the men’s and women’s doubles will go up by 3.1% -- the winning pairs in each competition will share £350,000 ($510,000) -- but there is "no increase in the rewards in the mixed doubles" (INDEPENDENT, 4/26). The AP reported the U.S. Open continues to be the Grand Slam tournament "paying the highest prize money." Last year, it paid out a total of $42.3M -- including $3.3M to each of the singles champions. Prize money has been increased 14% for next month's French Open to a total of about $36M. The singles winners will each earn $2.25M. Wimbledon "also increased funding to combat match-fixing and doping, though no specific figures were given" (AP, 4/26).
