Big W’s overall prize money rises slow

The prolific acceleration in the size of the overall prize money pot at Wimbledon is slowing but the grasscourt championships remains the richest of the four Grand Slams. All England Club officials on Tuesday announced a seven per cent overall rise, down from 10.5 per cent last year, meaning overall prize money has surged by an eye-popping 152 percent since 2011 to 26.75 million pounds ($40.90 million). That figure is just ahead of the US Open’s prize pool. The latest round of increases, unveiled by All England Club chairman Philip Brook at a news conference, means the singles champions will each pocket 1.88 million pounds compared to the 1.76 million handed to Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova in 2014. Prize money for the singles competitions has risen eight percent on last year. Brook said the rapid rises in prize money for first round losers had slowed, however, with those players failing to survive a round of the singles taking home 29,000 pounds. The French Open recently announced a 12 per cent increase in total prize money, taking it to $29.61 million. Last year’s US Open had total prize money of $38m.