The tennis world is facing a somewhat chaotic period in the lead-up to Wimbledon in 2026. Seven different men and women have won the last eight Grand Slam tournaments, but Carlos Alcaraz, the only player to win multiple titles, remains sidelined with a wrist injury. No other player won the grass title this year.
And that’s without even mentioning the GOAT in the field.
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With Tennis in an English Garden™ set to open this weekend, let’s address the biggest of many questions in the field. We start with the players who are hoping to repeat what happened at last year’s Wimbledon, not what happened at last month’s Grand Slam.
Even if Jannik Sinner completes a career Grand Slam, he will probably hear about the 2026 French Open for the rest of his life. Sinner, the favorite to win the Rafael Nadal division and the favorite to win the last remaining major title, succumbed to a hot day against Alcaraz, the biggest rival of his career.
Sinner’s struggle to break a two-set, two-break lead against Juan Manuel Cerundro at Roland Garros without Alcaraz will go down as one of the greatest upsets in tennis history. Wimbledon could see even hotter weather. During qualifying earlier this week, it was extremely hot and there was a power outage.
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The Paris debacle revealed just how serious the cramp problem is for Sinner, who hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since last year’s Wimbledon (even though it’s unprecedented at other tournaments). I just hope he’s figured something out in the weeks since then when he hasn’t played a game.
Sportsbooks certainly look optimistic. Sinner is now -175 favorite to win in London, an odds lower than the odds Roger Federer faced before all but two of his previous seven Wimbledon victories.
What can we expect from Serena Williams when she returns to Wimbledon? (Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport, Getty Images)
(Sean Brooks – CameraSport, Getty Images)
How far back did Serena Williams go?
The return of Serena Williams in both singles and doubles is another chance for the tennis world to experience one of the greatest players of all time.
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It remains to be seen whether it’s a feel-good story for Williams, 44, or something more akin to a candidate. It’s been seven years since her last Wimbledon singles final and a full 10 years since her last title. Here’s how long it’s been since she played. She does not play with any of the other 127 female players in the Wimbledon singles draw.
She will start this tournament by competing against players half her age. He was born at a time when she had already won seven Grand Slam tournaments.
You can’t really predict how this will turn out. Williams fans should consider themselves lucky if they get a chance to see her play again, especially alongside her sister Venus in doubles.
It’s fair to say that Williams doesn’t have much to prove. Granted, she’s one Grand Slam shy of Margaret Court’s all-time women’s singles record of 24, but it’s worth noting that Court a) b) won 11 of those titles at the Australian Open, when the field was mostly other Australians because the rest of the world’s top players didn’t want to travel in the middle of the tournament. world.
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It would be an incredible accomplishment for Williams to match Court, especially considering the current situation. However, no matter how you look at it, she should already be considered the record holder for the most wins in the Open era.
Is this the 25-year-old’s last chance for Novak Djokovic?
When it comes to players who have won incredible Grand Slam singles titles, it’s the story of a Serbian player.
It’s been almost three years since Novak Djokovic’s last Grand Slam title. Almost three years have passed since he last won the Masters 1000 title. During this time he won only three titles, two in the 250-meter run and one in the cathartic Olympics. Since Indian Wells in early March, he has won three matches in total, but none of them in straight sets. He hasn’t been No. 1 on the ATP since June 2024, and given his playing volume, he almost certainly won’t reach that level again. It’s honestly a feat for him to be ranked 7th in the world.
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As harsh as it may sound, this highlights another fact: this could be Djokovic’s last real chance to win an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title.
Novak Djokovic wants his 25th Grand Slam. Wimbledon in 2026 could not be simpler.
(Clive Brunskill, via Getty Images)
It is difficult to break through a healthy Sinner or Alcaraz. As Djokovic learned this year in Melbourne when he beat Sinner in the Australian Open semifinals and then lost to Alcaraz, it’s nearly impossible to get past both.
Djokovic is 39 years old, and his biggest obstacles are ages 23 and 24. If one of them misses, and one of them faces legitimate questions about how to handle a 90-degree day, he may not have another chance to make it to the majors. He’s already started losing to the Joao Fonsecas of the world, and there’s no reason to believe he’ll be any better when he turns 40.
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Is it really Iga Schwiatek?
Despite all the doubts facing Sinner, he is a deadly lock when compared to other defending singles champions.
Swiatek’s victory at Wimbledon last year feels like a long time ago. The former world number one, who built an edge on her athleticism and accuracy, has appeared out of sorts in recent months. She beat one top-10 player in 2026: Jessica Pegula on clay, the worst surface in America and the best in Poland.
Still, I feel like she definitely has a chance of winning Wimbledon in a huge field. She looked to have improved a bit after bringing in Francisco Roig, a former assistant coach to her idol Rafael Nadal, but she also lost in the first round at Bad Homburg, her only grass tournament.
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It seems impossible that Swiatek is already playing his best tennis at 25 years old. She has a very good chance to show that that might not be the case in London.
Is this the time for Taylor Fritz or Ben Shelton?
Up to this point we’ve been practicing analyzing elite players who are slumping, so let’s talk about players who are actually on the rise.
Finally released from the clay season, the big American pair of Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton have a combined record of 10 wins and 1 loss on grass, not including games against each other. The only loss in this group was Fritz’s loss to fellow American Francis Tiafoe in Halle.
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Both players are top-10 players and are playing on the surfaces best suited to produce their best shots. Fritz reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year, one of only two major semifinals in his career, while Shelton had just won his first grass title in Stuttgart, defeating Fritz in the final and returning to the top five.
It has been 23 years since Andy Roddick won the US Open, the last time an American man won a Grand Slam. Since then, there have been some strong American players, but it’s hard to think of a multi-player tournament that would inspire such optimism.
What about Arina Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina?
Let’s return to the story of the declining elite. WTA Nos. 1 and 2 had little success during the clay season, and the grass season, which should have been a little easier on their ball-striking, wasn’t that great either.
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Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, soundly won one match at Queen’s Club and one in Berlin, while Sabalenka only played in Berlin, losing to Pegula in the semi-finals. It’s been a few months since Rybakina won the Australian Open or Sabalenka won the Sunshine Double.
Still, Sabalenka is the current betting favorite at +200 odds, with Rybakina tied for third-best at +600. Rybakina is tied with Coco Gauff, who has lost her last four matches on grass. This field is so open.
Can Alexander Zverev beat Taylor Fritz?
Fritz is in a strange situation where, assuming all comes clean, a first-round match could be scarier than a quarter-final match.
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In his first match, he will face former ATP Top 5 player Jack Draper, who is returning from injury, in front of his home crowd. This is a dangerous situation for players ranked in the top 10 in the first round.
In the quarterfinals, Fritz is in the same bracket as Alexander Zverev, who is reeling from his first Grand Slam title. The ATP No. 3 player should not be taken lightly, but he has lost the last seven meetings with Fritz, including the semi-final in Halle.
If Zverev can avoid or beat Fritz, he will be in a pretty good position with Sinner, another Kryptonite, and Djokovic on the other side of the draw.
Will Jessica Pegula finally complete the Grand Slam?
This year, we have already seen one long-time top 10 player win his first Grand Slam title. Pegula will be aiming for his second championship at age 32.
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The American had never advanced beyond the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, but reached the final in Berlin last weekend by defeating another Grand Slam champion in Sabalenka and friend Madison Keys. That’s momentum in this environment.
Can we see anything from the British?
I already mentioned Draper’s first round matchup, and he really is one of the most interesting players in this lottery. The left-handed Londoner appears to be talented enough to win a Grand Slam, but health hasn’t been on his side.
This week he played his first tournament in two months at Eastbourne, but lost in the semi-final to Hugo Humbert. He also works with compatriot Andy Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, but that’s nothing.
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As for the women’s team, Britain’s top-ranked player is 30th seed Emma Raducanu, who just reached her second WTA final after the miraculous 2021 US Open. After years of struggle, Raducanu was reunited with former coach Andrew Richardson and looked like a new player at the Queen’s club with its turf facilities.
