Wimbledon has announced that the Men’s and Ladies’ Singles Champions will each receive £750,000 ($1.48 million), an increase of 7.1% over 2007 (£700,000).

The total prize money will increase by 4.7% to £11,812,000 from £11,282,710 in 2007, while prize money for each of the Men’s and the Ladies’ Doubles events will exceed £1 million for the first time.

Still, the winners of this year's French Open singles will get the most of any Grand Slam, 1 million euros each ($1.56 million). Roger Federer and Justine Henin won $1.4 million each by taking the singles titles at last year's US Open. The US Open purse for this year hasn't been announced. This year's Australian Open champions, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova, each won A$1.37 million ($1.28 million).

Reminder: Last year marked the first time women and men earned equal prize money at Wimbledon. (via Bloomberg)

Italian sportswear brand Fila is to be the new official footwear licensee to Wimbledon. The five-year contract will see Fila provide a range of dual branded performance tennis and leisure footwear styles, until 2012.

The partnership will mark the launch of the new Fila Alfa tennis shoe that utilizes superior components to ensure step in comfort and lasting performance. The Alfa Wimbledon shoe will be worn and merchandised at The Championships, Wimbledon, and be available with a hard court and grass court sole unit. Read more »

World number one Justine Henin has always claimed that she would prefer another Roland Garros title over winning Wimbledon. However, her opinion has changed, and when asked "A fifth Roland Garros or a first Wimbledon?" she replied "Wimbledon!" without hesitation.

Henin’s coach, Carlos Rodriguez, has prepared a plan, some tactical and psychological changes, which will enable the Belgian to win the only Grand Slam title she misses.

Justine's father Jose said: "Carlos is right about the way to go for a better Justine next year. He is going to make her more and more positive, stronger in the head. She will be going to the net much more so that she can feel more comfortable making volleys. Wimbledon is the goal."

Even though Henin is the best female tennis player the world has at the moment, she feels there is room for improvement. "I think I can still improve a lot, in my attitude especially," said the 25-year-old Belgian. "I have to keep improving my aggressive game, moving forward and taking my opportunities." (sources: Daily Mail, Reuters)

In order to raise money for charity, Wilson has released limited edition versions of their (K) Factor tennis rackets which are inlaid with gold leaf designs. They are well-known because they were used by multiple Grand Slam champions Venus and Serena Williams at this year’s Wimbledon. Only 650 of each model will be available at a recommended retail price of $500; ten percent of the proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). Serena and Venus signed an additional ten rackets of each model which are to be auctioned for the charity. Note: Venus used the white frame, Serena the black one. (via Down the Line)

Jelena Jankovic was stunned by Marion Bartoli’s fantastic performance at Wimbledon; the Serb was helpless in the fourth round match against the determined Frenchwoman (the eventual surprising finalist), and lost in singles earlier than planned.

However, by coincidence, Jankovic made best of bad situation — she paired with Jamie Murray, and I think completely unexpectedly for her, won mixed doubles on Sunday! They beat fifth seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Australia's Alicia Molik 6-4 3-6 6-1.

Jelena Jankovic admitted that a first Grand Slam win was especially sweet.

"It's really an incredible feeling for me to be there and to hold the trophy," she said.

"It's something that I always dreamed of, and I would love one day to have that feeling with the singles trophy." (via BBC)