London, July 10 (IANS) The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) announced on Friday that the prize money set aside for this year’s cancelled Wimbledon Championships will be distributed among the 620 players whose world ranking would have enabled them to gain entry into the grass court Grand Slam by direct acceptance into the Main Draw or Qualifying event.
The Championships this year was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was the first time the tournament was cancelled since the Second World War.
“Based on world ranking, 224 players who would have competed in Qualifying will each receive 12,500 Pounds; 256 players who would have competed in Main Draw Singles will each receive 25,000 Pounds; 120 players who would have competed in Main Draw Doubles will each receive 6,250 Pounds; 16 players who would have competed in the Wheelchair events will each receive 6,000 Pounds; and four players who would have competed in the Quad Wheelchair events will each receive 5,000 Pounds. Players will only receive payment for one event,” said the AELTC in its statement.
“We know these months of uncertainty have been very worrying for these groups, including the players, many of whom have faced financial difficulty during this period and who would have quite rightly anticipated the opportunity to earn prize money at Wimbledon based on their world ranking,” said AELTC Chief Executive Richard Lewis.
“We are pleased that our insurance policy has allowed us to recognise the impact of the cancellation on the players and that we are now in a position to offer this payment as a reward for the hard work they have invested in building their ranking to a point where they would have gained direct entry into The Championships 2020.”
The AELTC further said that the seeding for men’s singles will be based solely on world rankings from 2021. “Given the quality of competition, entertainment and modern grass courts, following detailed discussion with the player groups, the AELTC has decided that the grass court seeding formula used since 2002 has served its time, and from The Championships 2021 seeding for the Gentlemen’s singles draw will be based solely on ranking. There will be no change to the method of seeding for the Ladies’ singles draw,” it said.
–IANS
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