The 2023 Wimbledon Championships began on July 3 – here is all you should know about its curfew.
The Wimbledon Championships officially began on 26th June with the first round of qualifiers. The qualifying phase ended on 29th June and the main rounds started on 3rd July. The tournament is officially scheduled to end on 16th July – the men’s singles final being the closing event. Let us now take a look at what time the action is drawn to a close each day at the Wimbledon Championships.
Wimbledon has a specific curfew time which is 11 pm local time and unlike the other three Grand Slams, the action is drawn to a close at that particular time even if a match is going on. The primary reason for ending matches at 11 p.m. at Wimbledon was to comply with local regulations and respect the surrounding residential areas.
The tournament takes place in the London suburb of Wimbledon, where noise restrictions are in place to maintain the peace and minimize disturbances for nearby residents. By setting a curfew at 11 p.m., the organizers aimed to strike a balance between allowing matches to run their course and minimizing any inconvenience caused to the local community.
However, it’s worth mentioning that there have been instances where matches at Wimbledon have extended past 11 p.m. due to exceptional circumstances, such as long and intense matches. In such cases, the tournament officials have the discretion to continue the match until its conclusion.
Wimbledon is proving record-breaking prize money this year, powered by their elite sponsors. The All England Club has announced a record-breaking total pot of 44,700,000 pounds for the 2023 Wimbledon Championships. The Singles’ winners in both the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s categories will receive 2,350,000 pounds while the runners-up from both of these categories will take home a total of 1,175,000 pounds.
The overall prize money on offer at this year’s Championships has increased by a whopping 11.2% from the previous edition in 2022 and there has been a 17.1% increase from the last pre-pandemic edition in 2019.
Prize money for wheelchair tennis champions at Wimbledon has been more than doubled since the singles event was introduced in 2016. Wimbledon is the first grand slam to pay the winners of the wheelchair singles more than those knocked out in the first round of the able-bodied event.
Men’s wheelchair doubles has been played at Wimbledon since 2005, while the women’s doubles event was introduced in 2009. In 2022, Wheelchair singles winners got £51,000, while wheelchair doubles winners earned £22,000 per pair. The same sums applied for the quad wheelchair players, too. In 2023, prize money for both the wheelchair and quad wheelchair categories has been increased by close to 20%. The prize money is equal for both the men’s and women’s categories.
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