Wimbledon is richest slam but prize money rises slow

By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) - The acceleration in the size of the overall prize money pot at Wimbledon is slowing but the grasscourt championships remains the richest of the four grand slams. All England Club officials on Tuesday announced a seven percent overall rise, compared to 10.8 percent last year, taking the total prize pool to 26.75 million pounds ($40.88 million). The latest round of increases, unveiled by All England Club chairman Philip Brook at a news conference, means the singles champions will each pocket 1.88 million pounds compared to the 1.76 million handed to Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova in 2014. Prize money for the singles has risen eight percent compared to last year. First round losers in the singles will take home 29,000 pounds compared to 11,250 five years ago. "After three years of favouring the left-hand side of the draw we feel we have got the balance about right," Brook said. "Without the world's best tennis players we wouldn't have the world's best tennis tournament. We are very proud of our prize money record over the past four years." The French Open recently announced a 12 percent increase in total prize money, taking it to $29.61 million. This year's Australian Open boasted $32 million, while last year's U.S. Open had total prize money of $38 million. CONTINUING IMPROVEMENTS Improvements to the club's infrastructure have continued and all 19 courts will be in use this year after work to create facilities under Court 14 and 15, which involved digging out an area equivalent to 200 London buses, was finished on time. As part of the club's master plan, which in 2019 will see a new roof on Court One, Wimbledon's player facilities have also been enhanced with six permanent ice baths installed, a bigger warm-up area and private treatment rooms. This year's Wimbledon begins a week later than usual on June 29, reflecting the All England's Club's drive to create a longer grasscourt season following the French Open. The three-week build-up to the championships will feature an ATP grasscourt event in Stuttgart plus ATP and WTA tournaments in Nottingham, while the Queen's Club and Halle tournaments have been bumped up to ATP 500 status. A new WTA grasscourt event will start in Mallorca in 2016. "We hope every player competing at the championships will play at least one competitive week of tennis during those three weeks," Brooks said. "We have created the opportunity and we hope all the players will come here well-rested, well-prepared and well-adjusted to compete on grass." ($1 = 0.6540 pounds)