Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic on Sunday to win the eighth Wimbledon title of his illustrious career.
He won the title after five years and became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1976 to win the title without dropping a set.
Garbine Muguruza won her first Wimbledon title after getting the better of Venus Williams in a dominating performance by the Spaniard on Saturday.
Apart from the glory that these players receive, they carry home a sizeable amount with them. This year’s Wimbledon singles champions will receive £2.2 million each, an increase of £200,000 from 2016.
The finalists Cilic and Williams won £1.1 million each, which is the amount that was awarded to the singles’ champions six years back at Wimbledon.
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The semi-finalists earned £550,000, whereas the players who lost in the quarter-finals pocketed £275,000.
Players knocked out in the fourth round earned a cash prize of £147,000, while those defeated in the third round bagged £90,000.
The first round losers are in the most advantageous situation as compared to last year. This year they earned £35,000 which is almost 17% higher than last year.
The participants who exited in the second round got a cash prize of £57,000.
Apart from the singles’ tournament, the winners of the doubles tournament received £400,000 per pair and the winners of the mixed doubles tournament received a modest £100,000 per pair.
The chairman of the All England Club, Philip Brooke said that they had taken into consideration the exchange rates but the Brexit effect didn’t play much of a role in the calculations.
“Exchange rates go up and go down over time,” he said. “In my time with the club I think all four grand slam tournaments have led on prize money, and now the US dollar is particularly strong.”
Since 2011, the prize money received by the players who lose in the first round has increased from £11,500 to £35,000. In this year’s Wimbledon a total of 7 matches were aborted in the first round of the Men’s singles tournament which accounts for more than 10% of the matches.
It raises an important question whether the players who retire in the first round at Wimbledon or any grand slam for that matter be given their prize money or not?
