How Much do Wimbledon Champions Make?

Wimbledon, the oldest Grand Slam in the history of the game, is also the most coveted. In 2017, more than 473,372 attended Wimbledon and nearly 70 million digital visits were recorded. Here’s a few other important numbers about this world-famous event.

The first edition of the tournament was held at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon London in 1877, which is 141 years ago. This featured 22 male players, and according to newspaper reports, the winner took home £12 and 12 shillings along with a silver cup worth £26 and 5 shillings. Women became a part of the tournament in 1884.

The oldest Grand Slam is not necessarily the most lucrative one. This year, the Wimbledon tournament increased its total prize pool to £34.3 million (close to $45 million). However, the U.S. Open has the largest prize pool at an impressive $50 million for 2017 and is expected to exceed $51 million for 2018 when held at the end of the summer.

In its long history, Wimbledon suffered from a gender pay gap that was finally bridged in 2007. For example, in 1968 the prize money for the Gentlemen’s singles champion was £2,000 while the Ladies’ singles champion made only £750.

This year, champions for both singles categories will take home £2.25 million or roughly $2.9 million.

On the eleventh anniversary of pay equality for the tournament, here’s a look at what champions earned through the years.

Tournament authorities have frozen the prices of the statutory Wimbledon snack, strawberries and cream, since 2010. A portion of strawberries and a helping of cream costs £2.50 courtside. On average, 28,000 kgs of strawberries or 140,000 servings of strawberries are supplied to the tournament.

Here are some of the other popular food items at the tournament.

Visitors to Wimbledon also buy a lot of merchandise. Last year, there were 151,000 retail transactions for Wimbledon merchandise with over 30,386 Championship Towels sold. These are the most bought merchandise pieces from 2017.