A U.K. tax on the earnings of foreign sports and entertainment figures working in the country, including two-time Wimbledon tennis champion Rafael Nadal, yielded 68 million pounds ($105 million) in 2009-2010.
The Foreign Entertainers Unit of Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs collected 56 million pounds from the tax on endorsement income, appearance fees and revenue in 2008-2009, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request. That compared to 58 million pounds in 2007-2008.
Nadal last month said he won’t prepare for Wimbledon at the grass courts of the Queen’s Club in west London, instead opting to play in Halle, Germany in the same week in June. The Spaniard told reporters in Shanghai that he would “lose money” if he played Queen’s, where he competed in five of the past six years.