Wimbledon relent on equal pay

There will be equal pay for men and women at Wimbledon for the first time this year.

After years of being accused of sex discrimination the All England Club chairman Tim Phillips announced that the championship committee had decided "that the time is right to bring this subject to a logical conclusion and eliminate the difference".

There was speculation that Wimbledon might follow the example of the French Open in awarding equal prize money only to the champions of both men's and women's singles. But while the amounts have yet to be published the equality will be "across the board".

Phillips added: "Tennis is one of the few sports in which women and men compete in the same event at the same time. We believe our decision to offer equal prize money provides a boost for the game as a whole and recognises the enormous contribution that women players make to the game and to Wimbledon.

"We hope it will also encourage girls who want a career in sport to choose tennis as their best option. In short, good for tennis, good for women players and good for Wimbledon.

"When Wimbledon pioneered Open tennis in 1968 the men's singles champion, Rod Laver, won £2,000, while Billie Jean King, the ladies' singles champion, won £750, only 37.5% of the men's prize.

"Over the years we have progressively increased the ladies' prize money so that last year Amelie Mauresmo received £625,000 - 95% of the money received by Roger Federer. As in every other year the Committee has again analysed all the relevant information and then made a judgement."

This time, though, they have come to a different judgment and now all four Grand Slams offer the same amounts to its men's and women's champion and only the French will have differences for those who lose.

Despite the clamour for equality the All England Club had until now argued the case for differences to remain, arguing that men's matches were generally longer.

Last year Federer won 202 games on his way to the title, compared to 142 for Mauresmo, with the men playing best-of-five-set matches and the women the best of three.