Wimbledon handed out more than £800,000 in prize money following a dreadful opening day for British players at the All England Club. All 10 Britons who completed their matches on Monday were dumped out in the first round.
It came on the back of the deflating news that leading contenders Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu had both pulled out of the tournament through injury ahead of their opening matches. British No. 1 Cameron Norrie suffered a five-set defeat to American qualifier Michael Zheng. Mimi Xu and Harriet Dart also pushed their respective opponents to a deciding set, while Oliver Tarvet claimed a set in his defeat to Arthur Rinderknech. Max Basing, Felix Gill, Mika Stojsavljevic, Alicia Dudeney, Hannah Klugman and Francesca Jones all bowed out of Wimbledon in straight sets. However, all 10 British players pocketed £80,000 each despite their first-round exits, while Raducanu and Draper were also paid for their time at the tournament.
Wimbledon is offering a combined £47.264million in prize money across the men’s and women’s singles competitions. The £80k first-round sum represents a 21 per cent rise on last year’s figure, resulting in British players collectively banking £800k on Monday alone.
Yet Raducanu and Draper have also been compensated for their presence at SW19. Former US Open champion Raducanu and former world No.4 Draper each received £40k, despite neither having stepped out on court. The Grand Slam rulebook states that players who withdraw before their first round matches are entitled to half of the £80k sum if four criteria are met.
Namely, the decision to withdraw must be made after midday on Tuesday before the start of the main draw, and the player must be declared unfit to play by the tournament doctor.
They must also have competed in a tournament 21 days before the start of the Grand Slam main draw and must not have pulled out on-site from two or more Grand Slams in a calendar year. Raducanu featured in the previous eight Grand Slams before Wimbledon, while Draper has endured an injury-ravaged year, slipping to 131st in the ATP rankings.
Raducanu withdrew from her match against Antonia Ruzic on Sunday. In a social media post, the 23-year-old wrote: “I can’t believe I’m saying this but sadly I’ve had to withdraw from this year’s Wimbledon.
“I’ve done everything possible to try to get to the start line tomorrow but after a final scan tonight, the niggle I’ve been managing has developed into a stress fracture and I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through.”
The following day, Draper pulled out of his upcoming match against American star Taylor Fritz. He said: “Devastated to share that I have had to withdraw from my first round match due to a recurrence of my arm injury.
“There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months but this one is definitely the absolute worst as there is no greater honour for a British player than playing at Wimbledon. I will continue to persevere through this.”