Wimbledon give out £10m in prize money… for a tournament that isn’t happening! Players are handed up to £25,000 each after SW19 chiefs’ pay-out from pandemic insurance
- Players will reap the divident of Wimbledon’s pandemic insurance
- This weekend would have marked the finals of the 2020 tournament
- All England Club have unveiled a £10m fund for players who missed out
- A total of 620 competitors will share the surprise bounty between them
Wimbledon may not have happened this year, but the players will still reap the dividend of the tournament’s foresight in maintaining its pandemic insurance.
The All England Club have marked what would have been men’s semi-finals day by unveiling a £10million fund for players who have missed out on earning anything for months.
A total of 620 competitors will share the surprise bounty with a financial lifeline being handed to those who would have played in the qualifying event.
Wimbledon will share out the 2020 tournament’s £10m prize money among 620 competitors
Those who would have played in the singles main draws will be given £25,000 each, which is small change to the likes of Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
Their peers lower down the food chain will, however, hugely benefit from the tournament’s unexpected largesse, which sees £12,500 to those who would have made qualifying event on ranking, and £6,250 to doubles players.
This is in addition to a host of donations to Coronavirus charities well in excess of £1 million. There is also some unspecified money going to umpires and line judges who would otherwise have been employed this past fortnight.
While the pandemic insurance is still a long way off being fully processed, it is expected to have saved Wimbledon more than £100m by the time it is fully totted up.
The enabling of such generous measures are a reminder that, while it can sometimes be easy to caricature Wimbledon, plain old school competence should never go out of fashion.
The All England Club have marked what would have been men’s semi-finals day
The annual payout to British tennis of approximately £40m should also emerge largely unscathed.
‘Immediately following the cancellation of The Championships, we turned our attention to how we could assist those who help make Wimbledon happen,’ said Chief Executive Richard Lewis.
‘We know these months of uncertainty have been very worrying for these groups, including the players, many of whom have faced financial difficulty during this period and who would have quite rightly anticipated the opportunity to earn prize money at Wimbledon based on their world ranking.
‘We are pleased that our insurance policy has allowed us to recognise the impact of the cancellation on the players.’
The All England also announced that from next year it is to scrap the unique seeding formula for the men’s draw, whereby past grass court form is taken into consideration.
The 2020 tournament was called off in early April after the outbreak of coronavirus
It has been in place since 2002 and the move was overdue. Given that the speed and bounce of the grass courts at SW19 have fallen more into line with other surfaces there was no longer any justification.
From now on the seedings will be taken straight off the world rankings, as has been the case in the women’s draw.
It was also confirmed that there will be no public ballot for 2021, given that those who received tickets for this year will be allowed to take the same seats in 12 months’ time.