Wimbledon prize money increased

Tennis:Rafael Nadal is set for a bumper pay rise if he successfully defends his Wimbledon men's singles title in July.

This year’s men’s and women’s champions will walk off with £850,000 (€958,000), £100,000 (€112,000) more than last year, an increase of 13.3 per cent.

And this year Nadal will not have to play in near darkness, as was the case against Roger Federer 12 months ago, with the retractable roof over Centre Court ready to be used for the first time.

Wimbledon is seemingly immune to the deepest recession in a century, with total prize money increasing by 6.2 per cent to £12.55million (€14.15m).

Capacity will also rise by 3,500 to 40,000, while applications for tickets via the public ballot were also up by 20 per cent.