It was an underwhelming performance overall by Indian players at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, with only two players managing to get into the 2nd round of the doubles. However, it was the first time in five years that we had Indian representation in the singles draw.
Sumit Nagal, who won hearts with his fighting performance in the singles, earned the most amongst the Indian contingent, taking home ₹72.55 lacs across singles and doubles. He lost in the first round of both categories.
The legendary Rohan Bopanna, who was a semi-finalist last year, managed to advance to just the second round this time, securing a prize money of ₹13.36 lacs. Yuki Bhambri also achieved the same feat in doubles, earning the same amount.
Sriram Balaji, though exiting in the first round of the doubles competition, still secured 8.42 lacs.
While it may feel like a lot of prize money for just losses, one must consider that tennis is an extremely difficuly sport – mentally, physically, financially – and the prize money at Grand Slams is a reward to get to the pinnacle of Tennis. Also, Tennis players have a humongous amount of expenses on a weekly basis – flights, accommodation, coaches, trainers, etc (most often >1 crore INR/year for around 10-12 years to get to a level where you can make money from the sport).