London - Wimbledon has shrugged off the current world economic woes, handing this summer's champions a massive 13.3 percent pay rise for the upcoming edition.

Officials expressed their monetary solidarity with the game's millionaires who bank in dollars, happily lifting the payout to compensate for the drop in British sterling from around 2 to 1.5 against the greenback.

"We recognise the fact that many of the players who compete deal in US dollars or Euros," said club boss Tim Phillips. "(The exchange rate) has come very much into our thinking."

The men's and women's winners will each walk with 850,000 pounds (1.24 million dollars). In their world, that's a hefty drop from the 1.49 million dollars lifted by the 2008 champions.

Total prize money will rise by a still-respectable 6.2 percent in sterling but will fall in dollars from 23 million in 2008 to a mere 18.3 million this summer. (dpa)