In the world of tennis, Wimbledon is the big one. The holy grail. The Mecca towards which all tennis hopefuls aim. Even outside of the tennis world, the mention of the name alone brings about connotations of luxury, triumph, and legends.
Those who don’t follow the game can still picture the Royal Family and Hollywood celebs eating strawberries and cream in the stands, umpires urging hush across the crowds, and Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg promising to take us there to see Venus and Serena.
Moreover, as of today, some unbelievably rich people have had their pockets lined thanks to this event. But no, Jeff Bezos wasn’t asking for tips while masquerading as a ball boy. Instead, the likes of Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina have won their respective tournaments and will now be paid some serious cash.
Wimbledon had multiple competitions in action from June 27 until July 10, with men’s and women’s singles and doubles events. All of these matches had different prizes attached to them and how far a player progressed through the tournament dictated how much they won by the end.
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The total prize pool for Wimbledon in 2022 was a whopping £40.3 million (about $71 million) which is shared amongst the players. This is a 15% increase on 2021, when prize money dropped due to the pandemic, and a 6.2% increase on the previous record pool given in 2019.
Wimbledon is the oldest and the grandest tennis tournament in the world, dating back to 1877. However, the Championships, as it’s otherwise known, doesn’t actually have the biggest prize pool attached. That title goes to the Australian Open, which ensures it keeps ahead of the rest of the big four by increasing its prizes incrementally each year.
Still, a win at Wimbledon sets you in pretty bloody decent standing, all things considered. Here’s how much some of the athletes made this year:
Wimbledon Men’s and Women’s Singles Prize Money
Wimbledon was actually the last Grand Slam to offer equal prize money to both men and women, which didn’t happen until 2007 (!). Thankfully, there is now equality across the genders.
The singles champions, Djokovic and Rybakina, took home £2 million ($3.52 million). The runner-up, Nick Kyrgios and Ons Jabeur, got £1.05 million ($1.85 million). Those who made it to the semi-finals still walked away with a nice £535,000 ($942,000).
Quarter-finalists made £310,000 ($547,000), those who made it to round four will got £190,000 ($335,000), those who made it to round three got £120,000 ($211,000), and those who made it to round two earned £78,000 ($137,000). But don’t you worry about those round oners, as they still took home £50,000 ($88,000).
It’s worth noting that these prizes weren’t cumulative, meaning nobody was paid until they lost. They then collected the money allocated for making it to that round. Otherwise, the finishers would be earning vastly more than those who crash out in the early rounds.
Wimbledon Men’s and Women’s Doubles Prize Money
Doubles players earned significantly less than the headline-grabbing singles players — but don’t feel too bad for them though, as most of them played in the singles tournament anyway.
The doubles champions, being the Aussie Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell, and the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, took home £540,000 ($953,000). The men’s runners-up Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, and the women’s runners-up Elise Mertens and Shuai Zhang, each received £270,000 ($476,000). Semifinalists got £135,000 ($238,000) while quarterfinalists scored £67,000 ($118,000).
Those who made it to round three got £33,000 ($58,000), those who made it to round two got £20,000 ($35,000), and those who finished up in round one still got £12,500 ($22,000).
Prize money wasn’t split either, so each player in the doubles match got that figure. Tidy sums whichever way you square it.
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