Record prize money for players, on-court refillable water, milestone anniversaries to celebrate, exciting new spectator experiences, smashing new gaming fun, and much, much more. Welcome to the 136th staging of The Championships.

Anniversaries

The theme of this year’s tournament, Always Like Never Before – looking to the future of The Championships while honouring its iconic history – is particularly resonant given the fact that the eve of Wimbledon 2023 coincided with the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association.

The trailblazing Billie Jean King will be one of the Chairman’s special guests at The Championships and she, alongside other members of the Original 9, will be recognised for the integral role they have played in the development of the sport.

Another milestone to note is the 10 years since the formation of the All England Club’s official charity, the Wimbledon Foundation.

In 2023, the Foundation will be investing approximately £4 million in charitable activities and supporting more than 100 causes locally, nationally and internationally.

In recognition of the Foundation’s charity partners and recipients of funding and support, more than 600 guests will be attending during the Fortnight, including a presence in the Royal Box, and partners invited to nominate a young person to perform the coin toss for the singles finals.

Day 3 of The Championships coincides with the 75th birthday of the NHS. The Club will be marking the day by inviting 75 NHS employees from the local hospital, St George’s, to celebrate at Wimbledon. A number of NHS representatives will be hosted by the Chair of the AELTC in the Royal Box.

Record prize money

The All England Club is pleased to announce the total prize money fund for The Championships 2023 will be a record £44,700,000. The prize money on offer (not including per diems) is an 11.2 per cent increase on 2022 and a 17.1 per cent increase on the pre-pandemic Championships in 2019.

The ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles champions and runners-up will receive £2,350,000 and £1,175,000 respectively, with prize money for these two rounds rising to the levels they were in 2019.

The prize pool for the gentlemen’s and ladies’ doubles is a 10.7 per cent increase on last year, while the Wheelchair and Quad Wheelchair singles and doubles events all rose by just under 20 per cent.

Environmental sustainability

The Club’s commitment to becoming Environment Positive by 2030 remains in sight and it is pleased to introduce a number of initiatives to help fulfil sustainability ambitions.

The most noticeable change will be on court.

Working alongside Official Partner evian, The Championships will pilot an on-court refillable water solution for competitors. Players are provided with reusable bottles that they can refill during their time at Wimbledon.

All competition courts apart from Centre Court and No.1 Court will feature a dispenser positioned on the umpire’s chair during matches for players to refill their bottles. Ball boys and girls will also be on hand to refill on behalf of players.

On Centre Court and No.1 Court, prefilled reusable bottles will be available to supplement those supplied to players. After matches, bottles will be collected, safely washed and refilled with evian water for re-use.

The Club has connected its renewable electricity supply to facilities in The Queue, accelerating the phase-out of generators used during The Championships. Food menus will have low CO2 dishes highlighted to help guests make environment-positive choices. The Club will again host its Environment Positive Panel on Day 4, and promote this theme throughout the day.

Operations and schedule

The Wheelchair and Quad Wheelchair events will begin one day earlier, on Day 10, allowing players who reach the latter stages of both singles and doubles more time for rest and recovery.

Furthermore, on the final weekend of The Championships, the start time for play on No.1 Court will be brought forward to 11am rather than the traditional start time of 1pm. This change will provide additional opportunities to further enhance the profile and visibility of the Wheelchair and Quad Wheelchair events.

The gentlemen’s doubles format has been shortened from best-of-five sets to best-of-three. The decision was made following a wide-ranging consultation and brings The Championships into line with the other Grand Slams. Wimbledon has also agreed to participate – alongside the other Grand Slams and the Tours – in a one-year trial of off-court coaching.

Late last year, a change to the white clothing rule was announced, with female competitors now able to wear mid/dark-coloured undershorts if they choose to do so. Requirements for other clothing, accessories and equipment remain unchanged.

Official Partners

Wimbledon welcomes Barclays as Official Banking Partner. This multi-year partnership includes the biggest ever donation made by an Official Partner to our charity, the Wimbledon Foundation. Together, Barclays and the Foundation are focused on using sport to help make a positive difference to people’s lives.

Stella Artois has returned as the Official Beer Partner of The Championships, with a multi-year agreement that gives the brand pouring rights during the event. Part of the collaboration will be the “Perfect Serve Award”. This new award will recognise players who deliver the best serves throughout The Fortnight.

Investing for the future

Strategic investment in facilities continues to be an integral part of the All England Club’s ambition to be at the pinnacle of the sport, while also delivering benefit to our local community.

Player interviews for this year will take place in a new purpose-built facility, the Media Pavilion, which sits atop the Broadcast Centre. The centrepiece of the facility is the Media Theatre, which seats 119 and features an LED video wall. The Pavilion includes a further seven interview rooms and two levels of bookable positions for broadcast rights holders.

Community Tennis Centre, Raynes Park

Phase three of development is nearing completion. The 16 grass courts will provide players with additional practice facilities before and during The Championships. It is anticipated the new two-storey Clubhouse will open in the autumn, including changing and therapy rooms, a café, and multi-use function room.

The full range of facilities will be used by players preparing for The Championships in future years, but, equally, will provide significant benefit to the many thousands of community members who use the Community Tennis Centre throughout the year.

AELTC Wimbledon Park Project

Proposals for the Wimbledon Park Project are currently before Merton and Wandsworth Councils and we are awaiting a planning committee date. Ambitions for the project are two-fold: a once-in-a-generation opportunity to safeguard The Championships for the future, as well as creating year-round benefits for the local community, including significantly increasing access to green space with a major new park for London.

The proposals will allow Wimbledon to maintain its position as one of the finest sporting venues in the world. Central to the proposals are bringing the Qualifying Competition on-site, improving practice facilities for competitors, opening a quality new Show Court, and enhancing the experience for spectators at the event.

Since submitting an application in July 2021, the Club has engaged extensively with the local community, including hosting guided tours of the proposed new community parkland in recent months now that golf has ceased on the land.

In addition to the new 23-acre community park, benefits will also include: desilting the Wimbledon Park lake for its health, biodiversity and enjoyment for future generations; construction of a boardwalk around the lake; nature trails alongside many other environmental and social benefits; and the extension of community tennis programmes to provide access to the grass courts for the local community. More information about the proposals can be found at wimbledon.com/wpp.

Also new this year:

See the draw like never before, with interactive Path to the Final view of the draw by clicking a player’s name on the draws page

See the projected Path to the Final of every player in the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles draws with IBM Likely to Play

View how favourable or difficult a player's draw is, with IBM AI Draw Analysis