WIMBLEDON will distribute £10M of prize money to the 620 players who would have taken part in the 2020 Championships.

The Grand Slam event was cancelled for the first time since 1945 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Singles players who would have been in the main draw will be given £25 000, with qualifiers, doubles and wheelchair players also each receiving money.

“We know these months of uncertainty have been very worrying,” Wimbledon chief executive Richard Lewis said.

“Many players 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.”

The All England Club had taken out insurance policies which allowed them to refund ticket holders, broadcast partners and sponsors in the event of a pandemic.

Players will receive one payment each and the money, which comes as a result of insurance cover for cancelation, will be distributed as follows:

    £25 000 for the 256 players in the singles main draws

    £12 500 for the 224 players in singles qualifying

    £6 250 for the 120 players in main draw doubles

    £6 000 for the 16 players in the wheelchair events

    £5 000 for four players in the quad wheelchair events

Following the cancellation of the Championships, the All England Club donated £1.2M to help a range of charities and organisations supporting vulnerable people during the pandemic.

It also made contributions to NHS Charities Together, St John Ambulance and the relief programme created to help lower-ranked players struggling without an income.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon has also announced a change to the men’s seedings from 2021, while there will not be a public ballot for tickets next year.

The seedings will follow the ATP rankings, instead of a formula which took previous grass-court results into account.

The ballot will not be held after this year’s ticket-holders were given assurance they could buy the same tickets for next year’s tournament. (BBC Sport)