Wimbledon 2015 prize money makes it the richest grand slam in tennis
Wimbledon has increased its prize money by seven per cent for this year's tournament, guaranteeing the men and women singles champions £1.88m apiece.
Tennis' premier grass court tournament will this year boast the highest-ever prize money pool in professional tennis at £26.75m, although the growth in the fund did slow down following the 10.5 per cent rise between 2013 and 2014.
Since 2011, overall prize money at the All England Tennis Club has soared a massive 152 per cent from £14.6m. Last year's champions, Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova, pocketed £1.75m for their efforts.
Even those players who do not enjoy the same Centre Court successes as Djokovic and Kvitova will leave Wimbledon with a princely sum, with first round losers guaranteed a cool £29,000 for their day in the sun.
The All England Club chairman Philip Brook told a press conference the big payouts reflected Wimbledon's status on the tennis calendar.
Brook said:
You need the world's top performers to have the world's best tennis tournament. So the players are an essential ingredient of our championships and this level of prize money is affordable. Therefore it's important that we should reflect that in what we pay the players.
Only a fortnight ago The French Open boosted its prize pool by 12 per cent to €28.03m (£20.2m) yet Roland Garros' remuneration remains some way off Wimbledon.
Last year's US Open offered winners $3m from a pot of $36.2m (£23.65m) while the Australian Open awarded champions Djokovic and Serena Williams AUD$3.1m from AUD$40m (£20.8m).