Wimbledon prize money increased

Tennis: Rafael Nadal is set for a bumper pay rise if he successfully defends his Wimbledon men’s singles title in July.

Tennis:Rafael Nadal is set for a bumper pay rise if he successfully defends his Wimbledon men's singles title in July.

This year’s men’s and women’s champions will walk off with £850,000 (€958,000), £100,000 (€112,000) more than last year, an increase of 13.3 per cent.

And this year Nadal will not have to play in near darkness, as was the case against Roger Federer 12 months ago, with the retractable roof over Centre Court ready to be used for the first time.

Wimbledon is seemingly immune to the deepest recession in a century, with total prize money increasing by 6.2 per cent to £12.55million (€14.15m).

Capacity will also rise by 3,500 to 40,000, while applications for tickets via the public ballot were also up by 20 per cent.

  • Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date

  • Sign up for push alerts to get the best breaking news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone

  • Listen to In The News podcast daily for a deep dive on the stories that matter