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2/1/12 7:11 PM | Johan Lindahl
Ex-Wimbledon boss Ian Ritchie said Grand Slam prize money is not rising too fast, with players deserving of what they get.
The administrator, who is moving on to head rugby, said that the payouts also look set to keep on rising.
The latest payday record came last weekend, with the $2.4 million paid to each of the men's and women's champions at the Australian Open.
"The record here (Wimbledon) has been a good one," said Ritchie. "It's not as if we've been parsimonious. The rises have been well, well over inflation.
"Do I think the players should get appropriate compensation? Of course I do. Hopefully we try here to show how important the players are. We try to look after them. They do appreciate that this is a tennis club. When I started in 2005, the champion earned 630,000 sterling ($1 million) and last year the winner received 1.1 million ($1.76 million)."
Ritchie also said he was flattered to have been considered as a possible candidate for the vacant ATP supremo job, which went just before Christmas to ex-player and insider Brad Drewett.
"I had a conversation with a couple of the players about it, and I was flattered that they even thought that it was a possibility that I could do it," said Ritchie."I have the highest regard for them (players) and I'm always very conscious of the fact that I'm the bloke in the suit.
"My speed about the court does not rival theirs. So for the slightly overweight bloke in a suit to be asked, 'Will you think about it?', I took that as extremely flattering. But it wasn't the right thing for me."
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