London, UK: The All England Club, Wimbledon, today unveiled details of significant new facilities and services for the competitors, the media and for The Championships 2015.
Watch the annual Spring Press Conference as it happened
New for the Competitors
Three-week Gap
The Championships will be held one week later than usual in order to extend the period between Roland Garros and Wimbledon to three weeks, thereby allowing the players more time for rest and recuperation following the clay court season and increased opportunities to adjust between the surfaces, both in practice and in competition.
The move also creates an enhanced grass court season with new ATP events in Stuttgart and Nottingham, a new WTA event also in Nottingham and the upgrading of the ATP events in Halle and London Queen’s Club. This follows the upgrading of the WTA event in Birmingham in 2014. The AELTC continues to support the development of a new WTA grass court event in Mallorca for 2016. Finally, there will be new Challenger events in Manchester, Surbiton and Ilkley.
Facilities
As one of the first elements of the Master Plan, the AELTC has devoted considerable resources to improving the players’ physical environment and facilities. The main items of note are:
• Aorangi Pavilion
The Aorangi Pavilion, which formerly housed other Championships’ staff as well as competitors, has been totally refurbished and turned into a dedicated player facility with significant improvements for senior and junior players alike. Sitting at the heart of the practice complex, the pavilion now offers players the same facilities they would find in the Millennium Building. The locker rooms have been doubled in size and also incorporate new ice baths, as well as additional private physiotherapy and massage space. There is a new restaurant and a new warm-up area.
• Millennium Building
In the Millennium Building, the player lounge has been refurbished and significantly increased in size. Medical and physiotherapy facilities have been substantially improved with the addition of six ice baths, an additional warm-up and stretch area, podiatry and private treatment rooms and a large increase in the size of the massage rooms.
Communications
In addition to improving the physical environment, player services have been upgraded with the introduction of a player-dedicated website to enhance communication. Responsive to all devices, the site gives players secure access to personalised information, such as email and text alerts when the Order of Play is released, notifications of practice court and transport bookings and personal match statistics to view or download.
Prize Money
Building on the very significant increases in prize money over the past three years, competitors at The Championships 2015 will receive a total of £26.75m, an increase of £1.75m (7%) over 2014. The Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Singles Champions will each receive £1.88m, a 7% increase from £1.76m in 2014.
In the last four years the total prize money has increased from £14.6m in 2011 to £26.75m in 2015, with the singles winners’ prize money increasing from £1.1m to £1.88m.
Doubles continues to play an important role at The Championships and there is an average 5% increase in the Gentlemen’s, Ladies’ and Mixed Doubles. Wheelchair Doubles has also benefited from a significant increase with prize money raised by an average of 28%.
Click for full details of 2015 prize money
New for the Media
The media will benefit from a new 24-hour restaurant, which is both 50% larger and offers a broader range of food and drink, including a coffee shop, pizza bar, deli-sandwich bar and pasta station.
In response to feedback, the interview area has been redesigned to increase the number of interview rooms, while photographers will benefit from a state-of-the-art bespoke working area underneath Court 14.
New for The Championships 2015
The number of Championships’ courts in play will be 19 as Courts 14 and 15 come back into play, after being re-laid following the construction underneath them of the new areas for the photographers and Ball Boys and Ball Girls. This allows the Ground capacity to be increased to 39,000 (+500). Hawk-Eye coverage will be extended to Courts 12 and 18 bringing the number of courts equipped with the system to six.
Digital
The AELTC continues to develop its award-winning digital strategy and the focus for 2015 is the redesign and redevelopment of Wimbledon.com. The new-look website has the beauty of The Championships at its heart, brought to life through an image-led design. It is responsive to all platforms with intuitive and user-friendly navigation, allowing the user to follow Wimbledon wherever they are, and on any device. There are also improvements to the apps for iPhone, Android and iPad, to the Live @ Wimbledon Radio and TV service, and to Wimbledon’s ever-evolving social media portfolio.
Commercial
The AELTC’s commercial strategy continues to deliver long-term relationships with prestigious international broadcasters and organisations. Recent agreements include contract renewals with Globosat and ESPN in Brazil and in Australia with Channel 7 and Fox Sports. 15 courts will be available for broadcast distribution.
Jaguar Land Rover joins the AELTC’s Official Suppliers as the Official Car of The Championships. Renewals have also been agreed with Slazenger (Official Ball), Ralph Lauren (Official Outfitter) and IBM (Official Information Technology).
Wimbledon Master Plan
Work has continued on the Wimbledon Master Plan. Planning permission for the No.1 Court development was approved in December 2014 and the detailed design process for the re-development of the court, including the retractable roof, continues.
In addition to the player and media improvements, new accommodation has been created for the Ball Boys and Girls underneath Court 15. A new Construction Support Village, with capacity for 2,000 Championships’ support staff, will also support the No.1 Court building programme when it comes on stream.
Wimbledon Poster 2015
The Official Poster for The Championships 2015 brings together the traditions of Wimbledon in a beautiful tennis-ball shaped design which has the new tournament start date at its heart. The poster has been created by Russian paper artist Yulia Brodskaya and the original artwork and the poster itself are both on display in the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum's current exhibition, Powerful Posters: Tennis and Advertising, 1893-2015. See www.wimbledon.com/poster for more details.
Chairman’s Special Guests
The Chairman’s Special Guests will be Martina Navratilova (30 and 25 years since winning in 1985 and 1990), Bjorn Borg (35 years since winning in 1980), Boris Becker (30 years since winning in 1985) and Stefan Edberg (25 years since winning in 1990).
Diary Dates (subject to change)
• The Championships 2015: Monday 29 June - Sunday 12 July
• Wild cards announced: from Wednesday 17 June.
• Qualifying competition: Monday 22 - Thursday 25 June.
• Seedings announced: Wednesday 24 June, at 10.00am.
• The Draw: Friday 26 June, 10.00am in the Main Interview Room.
• ATP/WTA Player Interviews: Saturday 27 June, players and timings tbc.
• Champions’ interviews: Sunday 28 June. Timings tbc.
