Wimbledon 2023 prize money: Grasscourt Major announces record prize pool of over £44 million
Wimbledon has announced that the prize money for the 2023 edition will be a record £44,700,000.
A statement on the grasscourt Major's official website claimed that the prize money would be increased by 11.2% from 2022 (£40,350,000). The men's and women's singles champions in 2023 will be paid £2,350,000, a £350,000 increment from last year.
The runners-up in both singles tournaments at Wimbledon will pocket £1,175,000, which is £125,000 more than what they earned in 2022.The winning pairs in the men's and women's doubles events will each pocket £600,000, a 10.7% increment from last year.
Ian Hewitt, the Chairman of the All-England Club said in a statement that there will be a double-digit percentage increase in most of the events. He claimed that the motive behind the increment was to return the singles winners and runners-up prize money levels to those in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are delighted to offer record prize money to the players competing at The Championships this year, with double digit increases across the majority of events," Hewitt said.
"Our ambition with this distribution is to return the singles champions and runners-up prize money to the levels in 2019 prior to the pandemic whilst, alongside, providing deserved support for players in the early rounds of the event," he added.
Wimbledon to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete
This year's Wimbledon Championships will also see the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes after they weren't allowed to compete in 2022 in light of the war in Ukraine.
The tournament's official website released a statement in March, claiming that they intended to accept entries from players from Russia and Belarus, who would be subjected as neutrals.
"Our current intention is to accept entries from Russian and Belarusian players subject to them competing as ‘neutral’ athletes and complying with appropriate conditions," the statement read.
"These will prohibit expressions of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in various forms and prohibit entry by players receiving funding from the Russian and/or Belarusian states (including sponsorship from companies operated or controlled by the states) in relation to their participation in The Championships," Wimbledon added.
With the grasscourt Major allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, it will be interesting to see whether ranking points are included this year or not. No ranking points were awarded in 2022 as the players from the aforementioned countries were not allowed to compete.
Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina were the singles champions last season, beating Nick Kyrgios and Ons Jabeur in the finals, respectively.