Wimbledon serve up £50m surprise for British tennis

British tennis will receive an unexpected £50million cash injection from Wimbledon organisers on top of the multi-million pound share of the profits which they already receive.

The All England Club have agreed to pay £50m in instalments to the Lawn Tennis Association, starting in 2013, in a deal which will see them buy back a 50 per cent share of the SW19 grounds from the LTA.

And tournament organisers have also guaranteed to give the LTA, who have banked more than £300m from the event in the past 10 years, 90 per cent of the Championships' profit until at least 2053.

At present, the AEC hold on to less than 10 per cent of the profits, with the remainder going to the LTA, who today announced they had received £25m from this year's tournament.

The massive funding boost will see the LTA under intense pressure to start producing more British players to stand alongside World No4 Andy Murray and Laura Robson, the Wimbledon girls champion.

Tim Phillips, chairman of the AEC, said: "This proposed new agreement benefits both The Championships and the development of tennis in Britain for the next 40 years. We want the sport to flourish."