I’ve watched Wimbledon every summer since I was a kid sitting on the living room carpet. My mum would make sandwiches, my dad would complain about whoever was playing too defensively, and we’d argue about whether the umpire made the right call on a ball that was clearly in. That’s what this tournament does to people. It pulls you in. Every single year.
This year feels different though. I don’t mean that in the way people always say things feel different when really they mean “I’m excited.” I mean the actual circumstances heading into June 29 are genuinely unusual. The biggest star in men’s tennis isn’t playing. A 44-year-old who retired years ago is back with a wildcard. And nobody — genuinely nobody — can tell you with any confidence who’s going to win the women’s title.
So yeah. Different.
Wimbledon 2026 Men’s Draw
Carlos Alcaraz Is Not Playing
I’ll be honest, when the withdrawal news came through I stared at my phone for a second longer than I normally would. Alcaraz at Wimbledon over the last three years was something I looked forward to more than almost any other sporting event. The way he plays on grass — the footwork, the ridiculous angles, the drop shots that land somewhere between genius and showing off — it’s the kind of tennis that makes you grateful you happened to be alive when he is.
The wrist injury that started in Barcelona in April just never settled. He missed everything — Madrid, Rome, the French Open, and now this. There’s no drama in his withdrawal, no controversy. His body said no and that was that. But his absence leaves a hole in this tournament that no seeding arrangement can actually fill.
Jannik Sinner Is the Man to Beat
So Sinner steps into that space as the clear favourite and honestly he’s earned the right to be talked about that way. He won here last year. His game on a fast surface is different to how he plays elsewhere — more attacking, more willing to end points quickly, less of the grinding baseline exchanges he sometimes relies on. He went out in the second round at the French Open recently and that looked strange, like watching someone drive a car with the handbrake on. Grass suits him better.
The question around Sinner this year isn’t really about his tennis. It’s about whether the strange disruptions to his season — the doping case that dragged on, the French Open exit, the general noise around him — have left any mental residue. He carries himself like they haven’t. Whether that’s true only he knows.
Novak Djokovic Is Still Here and Still Dangerous
Every year someone tells me Djokovic is done. Every year I nod politely and think, sure. He’s 38 now and the body clearly isn’t what it was at 28. But on Centre Court, with a late-round match on the line and everything to play for, Djokovic is still a completely different animal to whoever is standing across the net from him. He wants that 24th Grand Slam title badly. You can see it. And wanting it that much at his age, after everything he’s already done, says something about the kind of person he is.
Alexander Zverev Just Won the French Open
A month ago Zverev finally did it — won his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros after years of coming close and then not quite getting over the line. That matters. Not just for the ranking points or the confidence boost people talk about in interviews. Something changes in a player when they finally break through. They stop playing like someone who hasn’t won a Slam. Zverev’s serve on grass is genuinely threatening and his forehand when he’s timing it well is one of the heaviest shots on tour. He’ll go deep here.
Jack Draper’s Wildcard Story
I don’t want to over-romanticise this because the reality is Draper has had a brutal year with injuries and his ranking fell to 160th, which tells you how little tennis he’s actually played. He’s drawn Taylor Fritz in round one, which is not the gentle return to action anyone would have wished for him.
But here’s the thing. Draper grew up watching Andy Murray play at Wimbledon. Murray is now in his coaching corner. The home crowd at Wimbledon does something to British players that doesn’t happen anywhere else — it gets inside the match, it shifts the energy, it makes the other person feel like they’re playing eleven opponents instead of one. If Draper finds his serve early in that match, Fritz will know he’s been in a fight.
Wimbledon 2026 Women’s Draw
This Is the Most Open Women’s Draw in Years
I’ve said this to two different friends in the last week and they both laughed at me for being dramatic. But I stand by it. Pick any of the top six or seven seeds in this draw and tell me why they can’t win. Go on. It’s actually hard to do. There’s no one player who looks nailed on, nobody walking in with the kind of form and dominance that makes the rest of the draw feel like a formality.
Aryna Sabalenka Is World Number One
Sabalenka is the top seed and on current form the most logical pick. Her ball-striking is at a level most women’s players don’t come close to. She moves better than people give her credit for, especially for someone who hits with that kind of power. Grass hasn’t always been her best surface but the gap between her and the field on raw talent is real. She can’t keep coming to Wimbledon without winning it. At some point it has to happen.
Iga Swiatek Is Defending the Title
Swiatek won here last year and she arrives wanting to do it again. She’s had a slightly uneven 2026 — not bad, not in any kind of crisis, just not the relentless dominance you’ve come to expect from her on clay. Grass makes her work harder. She has to think more, construct points differently, trust her serve in a way clay doesn’t demand. She’ll be dangerous from round three onward when the draw gets serious.
Mirra Andreeva Just Won the French Open at 18
She won it. An 18-year-old. And she didn’t just scrape through — she looked like someone who expected to win it. That composure at that age is almost unsettling. Grass is a different challenge and her record on the surface is still developing, but the mental side of her game is already at a level most players take ten years to reach. She could absolutely make the second week here.
Emma Raducanu Has Pulled Out With a Stress Fracture
This one stings a bit. She’d been playing some of the best tennis of her career — Queen’s Club final, seeded 30th at Wimbledon, the crowd was ready to get behind her. Then the stress fracture news came out days before the tournament. No Raducanu at a home Grand Slam feels wrong. She deserves a proper run at this place when she’s healthy, and hopefully that comes.
Wimbledon 2026 Biggest Story: Serena Williams Returns
She’s Actually Back
I didn’t expect this. When Serena retired in 2022 it felt complete — emotional, earned, final. So when the wildcard news broke and she confirmed she was coming back to Wimbledon for singles, I read it three times just to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood something.
She’s 44. Her first-round opponent Maya Joint is 20. Maya Joint was not yet born the first time Serena played at Wimbledon. That’s not a statistic that needs commentary — it just sits there and does something to you.
What the Other Players Are Saying
Djokovic called it inspirational and he didn’t say it in the hollow, press-conference way. Mirra Andreeva — who was literally born after Serena had already won a Grand Slam — said she wouldn’t want to face her. Not wouldn’t want to because of the occasion. Because of the tennis. Because of who Serena is on a court when she decides she wants something.
The Third Round Could Mean Serena vs. Swiatek
Her draw puts her in a position to potentially face Swiatek in round three if she gets through the first two matches. That would be one of those rare sporting moments where what you’re watching has no real frame of reference. History against the present, Centre Court, full crowd. Whether her body is ready for that kind of run after years away — genuinely nobody knows. That unknown is what makes it so watchable.
Wimbledon 2026 Prize Money
A Record £64.2 Million Total Purse
The numbers this year are the biggest in the tournament’s history. Total prize money sits at £64.2 million — about $86 million US. Each singles champion, men’s and women’s, takes home £3.6 million. That’s a 20 percent jump from what was paid out in 2025.
Whether prize money is the right measure of a tournament’s importance is a separate debate. What it does tell you is that Wimbledon’s commercial standing in world sport keeps growing. The tournament hasn’t needed to chase relevance the way other sports sometimes do. It just keeps being itself, and people keep showing up.
Wimbledon 2026 Schedule and Dates
Main draw starts Monday June 29. Women’s final is Saturday July 11. Men’s final is Sunday July 12. Outside courts from 11am each day, Centre Court and Court One from the afternoon. Two weeks, then it’s over and we wait another year.
Who Will Win Wimbledon 2026
Sinner on the men’s side, most likely. But Djokovic and Zverev are close enough that “most likely” doesn’t mean much. On the women’s side I genuinely couldn’t tell you — Sabalenka probably, but Swiatek, Rybakina, Andreeva and three others could all make a case and I wouldn’t argue.
What I do know is that none of that matters as much as just watching it unfold. Set your alarm. Make the sandwiches. Argue with whoever you’re watching it with. That’s the whole point.
