Wimbledon prize money rises again

LONDON: The winners of this year's Wimbledon singles titles will share a prize fund of £1.88 million after organisers on Tuesday announced a fourth consecutive prize money increase.

There has been a rise of seven percent from the £1.76 million paid to the singles champions in 2014, with overall prize money leaping from £14.6 million to £26.75 million in the past four years.

It preserves the tournament's status as the highest-paying competition in professional tennis.

"Without the world's best tennis players, we wouldn't have the world's best tennis tournament," All England Lawn Tennis Club chairman Philip Brook told a press conference.

"And we recognise the players are an essential ingredient of our championships. The level of prize money is affordable to this championship, so we feel it's important that we should reflect that in what we pay the players."

Brook also confirmed that Wimbledon chiefs had "reluctantly" turned down the chance to host Great Britain's Davis Cup quarter-final against France on July 17-19, which is instead taking place at Queen's Club.

"We took a look at hosting the Davis Cup at Wimbledon, and we took some very sound advice and we were counselled not to do it," he said.

"The week after the championships, there's a lot of work going on at the site, and there are things that need to happen in that first week.

"So reluctantly we said we weren't available, and obviously we wish the British team the best of luck and the Queen's Club the best of luck hosting the tie."

This year's Wimbledon will take place from June 29 to July 12, with Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic the respective defending champions in the men's and women's events.

Kvitova confirmed on Tuesday that she will prepare for this year's tournament by competing in the grass court event at Eastbourne, where she finished runner-up in 2011.