Tuesday 1 May 2018 17:00, UK
Wimbledon has announced a prize-pot hike of £34m - a 7.6 per cent increase on £31.6m from last year's championships - as well as a new sustainability project for 2018.
The new figure includes awards of £2.25m for the two singles champions, which is £50k more than the £2.2m Roger Federer and Garbine Muguruza received in 2017.
Organisers confirmed a ban on plastic straws after some 400,000 were used at last year's tournament, the introduction of electric vehicles in the courtesy car fleet, additional water-fill points around the grounds and the provision of paper bags at Wimbledon's shops.
"Sustainability is an important and necessary area of focus, particularly for major events," Wimbledon chief executive Richard Lewis said. "We have put in place a sustainability vision which is to sustain the running of the club, and the championships in a way that minimises the impact on our environment."
The All England Club also issued a warning that players who compete while knowingly carrying an injury, and quit mid-match, face being docked all their first-round prize money.
The move is aimed at preventing a repeat of the rash of retirements in early action last year.
"In the wake of first-round withdrawals we pledged to act on it, and we have done so," Lewis added.
"We were very influential in the creation and adoption of the 50-50 rule and hope the introduction of it will play a significant role in mitigating the problems of first-round singles retirements."
Under the new rule, if an injured player withdraws onsite after midday on the Thursday before the championships they will receive 50 percent of the first-round prize money. The replacement 'lucky-loser' will get the other 50 percent.
Tournament organisers also underlined their commitment to combating corruption in the sport and rolling out a sustainability programme.
Coverage of the ATP Madrid Open gets under way on Sky Sports Arena on Monday, May 7 from 11am.
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