Wimbledon hikes prize money to $46.6m

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters): Wimbledon announced on Tuesday it was hiking its total prize pot for the 2018 tennis championships to 34 million pounds ($46.57 million), up 7.6 per cent from last year.

That pool includes prizes of 2.25 million pounds each for the men's and women's champions - an increase on the 2.2 million pounds they received in 2017.

The prize money eclipses the 55 million Australian dollars ($41.32 million) paid out at January's first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne, but at current exchange rates is just shy of the 39.2 million Euros ($47.18 million) on offer at the French Open starting later this month. The US Open, the final grand slam of the tennis calendar starting in August, is yet to announce its prize money.