I'm gonna have to pry those lacross sticks out of the hands of my nephews and replace them with tennis rackets. Gotta get them ready for Wimbldeon! The All England Club announced Tuesday that its total money purse this will make it the most lucrative tennis tournament ever.
Both men's and women's singles champions will receive $1.40 millionwith the men's champion's check increased by 6.9 percent while the women's up by 12 percent after Wimbledon decided in February to offer equal prize money, according to a Reuters report.
"No tennis tournament has ever offered higher prize money than Wimbledon in 2007," Tim Phillips, chairman of the All England Club said. "We want to reward the players appropriately for the talent, entertainment and drama they bring to the grass courts of Wimbledon.
Plans were also unveiled on Tuesday to build a new 4,000-seat Court Two, to be completed by the 2009 championships. The current Court 2 has long been known as the graveyard of champions where such stars as Venus Williams, Andre Agassi and John McEnroe have all suffered early departures over the years. Building work will begin on the new Court Two immediately after this year's championships which conclude on July 8.
Also underway is work on Center Court which will have its capacity increased from 13,800 to 15,000 by 2009 and will also have a retractable roof that will allow play to continue and minimize Wimbledon's infamous rain delays. It will cover the court in 10 minutes, although there would still be a 30-minute wait while the air management system created perfect playing conditions.
"We want this to be the premier tennis tournament in the world, that's why we are doing so much work on Center Court," Phillips told reporters. "But we still want to retain the image of a tennis tournament in the garden and don't want the place to be full of concrete."