“Wimbledon is strongly committed to supporting the future of tennis through investment in players, in integrity, in our facilities and in the grass court season.”

The All England Club, Wimbledon, underlined its continuing commitment to the future of tennis with the announcement of increased investment in the players, integrity, the Master Plan and the enhanced grass court season on Wednesday (26 April).

Competitors at The Championships 2016 will receive GBP 28.1m (EUR 36.1m) in total prize money, a 5 per cent increase of GBP 1.35m (EUR 1.7). The singles champions will each receive GBP 2m (EUR 2.6m), a rise of 6.4 per cent from GBP 1.88m (EUR 2.4m) in 2015.

The staging of the first wheelchair singles events at Wimbledon also introduces significant prize money increases for wheelchair tennis players.

The wheelchair singles winner would receive GBP 25,000 (EUR 32,270). A total of GBP 75,000 will be awarded in the singles, with the runners-up, semi-finalists and quarter-finalists being awarded.

Previously, the Grand Slam had only featured wheelchair tennis doubles events. This year, in the wheelchair doubles event, each pair on the winning team would receive GBP 12,000 (EUR 15,490).

A total prize pot of GBP 200,000 (EUR 258,160) will be awarded in wheelchair tennis events this year.

Wimbledon’s existing commitment to integrity in tennis and at The Championships will be further reinforced with investment in a number of additional measures, including stricter accreditation procedures, additional data provision, monitoring and analysis, increased education and support for players and officials, and increased anti-doping measures.

No.1 Court continues to be the current focus of the Wimbledon Master Plan. The project, which includes a new retractable roof, an extra 900 seats, a new public plaza in the place of Court 19 and new hospitality facilities, will be part-funded by the proceeds of the 2017-2021 No.1 Court debenture issue.

Following the successful addition of an extra week to the grass court season in 2015, the grass court season will be further enhanced in 2016 with the introduction of a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in Mallorca. The year 2017 will see the re-introduction of a combined event at Eastbourne, a new combined event in Nottingham and more than double the amount of prize money, funded by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), for Association for Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger and International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women’s Pro Circuit grass court events.

Philip Brook, Chairman of the AELTC, said: “Wimbledon is strongly committed to supporting the future of tennis through investment in players, in integrity, in our facilities and in the grass court season.”