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The third major has arrived with The Championships at Wimbledon and it’s anyone’s game if we’re being perfectly honest (you’ll laugh when you see my infamous predictions). The WTA Tour in 2026 is genuinely deep, the grass is genuinely tricky and nobody has a clean path to the title. This fortnight at the All England Club could be as wild as Roland Garros was.
Iga ลwiฤ tek comes in as defending champion, with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, French Open champion Mirra Andreeva and 2022 champion Elena Rybakina being the likely main contenders for the title.
Sabalenka is the favorite and probably should be. She’s been the most consistent player on tour over the past two seasons, and her game translates reasonably well to grass, even if she’s never quite cracked the Wimbledon code at the final stage. Rybakina remains the most naturally suited grass-court player in the draw. Her serve is a genuine weapon on this surface, and when she’s locked in, she’s as difficult to beat as anyone in the world. The question with her, as always, is consistency across a full two-week run. She can go quiet for a match or two, and at a slam, that’s all it takes.
ลwiฤ tek arrives as the defending champion, but not the favorite, which might be an odd place for her to be, but here it makes sense. Her Wimbledon title last year was impressive and felt like a turning point in how seriously people take her grass-court game, but it was still a shock to many. She went out in the first week at Roland Garros and the grass transition is always a mental adjustment as much as a physical one, so it will be a bit interesting to see how she handles the extra pressure as reigning champion.
Off the bat, I wouldn’t consider Andreeva a super-hot contender to win it all, but she’s coming off of her first Grand Slam at Roland Garros and she is an all-surface player. She doesn’t have a lot of experience on the grass but has made the second week two out of her three appearances at SW19. Don’t count her out.
Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and last year’s runner-up Amanda Anisimova headline eight Americans that are seeded and it could be an explosion of red, white and blue just in time for the country’s 250th anniversary. For the second consecutive year, Pegula has won one of the WTA 500 warmup events, though last year she crashed in the opening round. Gauff is hoping to complete her career Grand Slam quarterfinal set after falling in the fourth round three times. The lawns of the All England Club haven’t been the kindest.
One American many are going to discuss is the last one to win the title here: Serena Williams (2016). I still struggle with what to make of her comeback and honestly, it’s complicated. The competitive side of this says a 44-year-old coming off a multi-year retirement is unlikely to make a deep run against a field this strong. The historical side says you don’t apply normal logic to Serena Williams at Wimbledon. A win in any round would make her the third-oldest woman to win a Wimbledon singles match. She’s drawn Maya Joint in the first round and if there’s a scenario where she strings together a few wins and finds herself across the net from ลwiฤ tek in the third round, grab some popcorn.
Now, my predictions. It’s hard to bet against both Sabalenka and Rybakina. ลwiฤ tek’s quarter is the one you really want to pencil as the biggest question mark. For starters, I think qualifier Robin Montgomery is going to upset No. 10 Jasmine Paolini and continue her impressive comeback on the grass. Elina Svitolina, Emma Navarro and Marta Kostyuk all could contend to upset the Pole too. One player I’m very curious about is Madison Keys, whose game is tailor-made for grass and holds a 75% win rate on the surface. She’s my biggest darkhorse for a super deep run.
Remember, take these with a chunk of salt.
Round of 16
(1) Aryna Sabalenka def. (14) Naomi Osaka
(10) Karolรญna Muchovรก def. (5) Mirra Andreeva
(4) Jessica Pegula def. (16) Iva Jovic
(7) Coco Gauff def. (11) Belinda Bencic
(8) Elina Svitolina def. (23) Emma Navarro
(3) Iga ลwiฤ
tek def. (Q) Robin Montgomery
(26) Madison Keys def. (9) Linda Noskovรก
(2) Elena Rybakina def. (21) Marie Bouzkovรก
Quarterfinals
(1) Aryna Sabalenka def. (10) Karolรญna Muchovรก
(4) Jessica Pegula def. (7) Coco Gauff
(3) Iga ลwiฤ
tek def. (8) Elina Svitolina
(2) Elena Rybakina def. (26) Madison Keys
Semi-Finals
(1) Aryna Sabalenka def. (4) Jessica Pegula
(2) Elena Rybakina def. (3) Iga ลwiฤ
tek
Final
(1) Aryna Sabalenka def. (2) Elena Rybakina
Now, on to links!
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This Week in Women’s Tennis
The International Tennis Federation has formally rebranded into World Tennis.
Karolรญna Muchovรก won the Bad Homburg final when Naomi Osaka retired early in the second set. The doubles title was captured by Aldila Sutjiati and Vera Zvonareva over Ellen Perez and Demi Schuurs.
Madison Keys took home the Lexus Eastbourne Open for the third time, knocking out Tatjana Maria in the final. Gaby Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani were crowned doubles champions, winning over Jesika Maleฤkovรก and Miriam ล koch.
The ITIA explained the case of Markรฉta Vondrouลกovรก and the process behind her four-year ban:
While the prize money has increased dramatically at Wimbledon, players are more eager than ever for a bigger piece of the revenue share overall.
Coco Gauff will produce two documentaries with Tennis Channel, one on tennis and fashion and the other on Zina Garrison.
British wildcards Hannah Klugman and Mika Stojsavljevic follow two different paths on the tennis court but are eager to surprise the world, while Alicia Dudeney is breaking through following a career at the University of Florida.
Lina Gjorcheska leads the Grand Slam main draw debutants at Wimbledon, becoming the first player from North Macedonia to compete at that level.
Erika Andreeva stepped away from the tour to prioritize her mental health and motivated by sister Mirra, is now rising back up the ranks.
Many college alums are representing their schools in the main draw at Wimbledon:
Chris Evert, who recently shared that her ovarian cancer has come back, and Martina Navratilova have been making the rounds promoting their Netflix documentary about their rivalry and friendship that has lasted half a century.
Daria Snigur continues to dream of living in Kyiv again, while compatriot Oleksandra Oliynykova spoke out about being the only top professional player training in the war zone.
Maja Chwaliลska is adjusting to being at the top of the women’s game after her Roland Garros finals breakthrough, while semifinalist Diana Shnaider is focusing on what’s ahead instead.
Alexa Guarachi left the game to pursue motherhood and a director role at a Florida club, but the Alabama grad is back in what she’s likely calling a swan song.
Tweet of the Week
lol Eva Lys
Five at The IX: Wimbledon Media Day
“I was aware [laughing]. I understand when it’s time to tell my story, when it’s time for someone else to tell their story. That is the important part in life is to know when to be quiet … Now it’s time to speak, and I would like to say officially that I’m excited we’re playing together and I can’t wait till we hit the courts.” โ Venus Williams on her sister’s, Serena Williams, comeback
“I always dreamed about playing Serena Williams, and if you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be playing her first round at Wimbledon, that’s just crazy. I have so much respect for her, and she was one of my idols growing up.” โ Maya Joint on playing Serena Williams in the first round
“I think I have more work to do. Thereโs always more work to do and things to get better at. But I feel like I’m in a position to do that and keep getting better. So I don’t know if I’m playing my best tennis ever, but I think I think there’s an opportunity to get there.” โ Emma Navarro on maintaining her current form
“Couple bags of chips, some sweets, and I’m good to go [laughing]โฆI just need to leave the place where everything happened and then I feel little bit better.” โ World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on how she gets over tough defeats such as Roland Garros and Berlin
“These weeks were something that I never experienced before. Definitely more attention and people recognizing me on the streets, which never happened before. Those are very nice things and hopefully I can adapt to that.” โ Maja Chwaliลska on the weeks following her run to the Roland Garros final
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