Wimbledon Women’s Preview 2026

We need a new diva!

None of the favourites look in good form.  Will we see a ninth consecutive first time Wimbledon champion?  Sabalenka and Swiatek are both showin’ the crazy. Serena Williams has materialized after a four year absence at age 44, but last won a slam title nine years ago.  So who will win it?

 

First Quarter

Aryna Sabalenka is still world #1, but hasn’t made a final since March. She’s been in the semis the last three times she’s played, so maybe if she catches a break, good things can happen.  But she’s taken to self-destructing when the going gets tight in third sets – especially in big matches.   She’s battled this demon before and exorcised it, but just like the last #1 (Swiatek) she seems to have become intent on her own defeat.  It must be a lot of pressure to be at the top.  We need a new Queen, one with true haughtiness, to straighten out this mess of self-consciousness.

Her draw looks decent for a couple rounds, but she could run into the dangerously explosive Jelena Ostapenko in round three. And then there’s the possibility of four-time slam champ Naomi Osaka (seeded 14) in round four.  Osaka hasn’t been past third round at the big W, but is lighting it up this week in Bad Homburg on grass.

Glad to see Bianca Andreescu back in the draw – she had to win through qualifying.  She might get a round, but the possibility of Karolina Muchova (10) in the second will likely be too much.  Muchova’s silky serve and volley looks tailor-made for grass; however, she’s lost in the first round the last four years.  But before that she was twice in the quarters. Will she find her mojo?

Huge congratulations are owed to Mirra Andreeva (5) for winning the French Open three weeks ago.  She’s still only 19 years old!  Will she have the knackers to continue winning?  Her draw is super tough, facing a possible triple-Czech-mate from Krejcikova, Bartunkova/Siniakova, and Muchova – just to get through to Sabalenka.  Our Czech ladies love their grass.  I’m guessing Andreeva still needs to come down from the mountain before she starts challenging for big titles again.  Maybe by US Open time she’ll be ready.

Barbora Krejcikova has to be one of the least predictable of the lot.  Former Wimbledon and Roland Garros winner, she insists on coming from nowhere before making a title run. She’s unseeded, and not coming in with a lot of form.  So who knows…

Osaka over Krejcikova? Andreeva over Ostapenko?  Where’s my dartboard…

Sabalenka def Muchova

 

Second Quarter

In the American quarter the top seeds are Jessica Pegula (4) and Coco Gauff (7). Just double-checked to make sure I didn’t have those numbers backwards… good on Pegula for that being correct.  She was in the final of Berlin last week and she can play on grass. Her flatish, hardish strokes do damage on low-bouncing turf.  Her movement is decent.  She lacks a little fire-power, but a run to the final or even the title would not surprise.  Especially in a wide-open draw like this one.

I’m curious to see what Iva Jovic (16) can do on this surface. She lost first round last year but made semis at Queen’s last week in a loss to Raducanu.  Jovic is a vastly improved player from a year ago.

Coco Gauff made her big splash into the world’s awareness at Wimbledon as a 15-year old. So it’s a surprise she’s never been farther than that 4^th round debut, matching it twice, but also losing first round twice.  Her form has been a little off this year, but she’s got enough talent to get hot when you least expect it.  Not sure this is her best surface.

Belinda Bencic (7) can also tend toward the unpredictable, but she has been to the second week at Wimbledon four times, including a semi-final last year.

Bencic def Pegula

 

Third Quarter

Iga Swiatek (3) is the defending champion and is on a 20-game win streak at the Championships, having won her last 3 sets in the semis and final at 6-0.  But her draw is a nest of poisonous spiders and her head is even worse.  She seems too high-strung and impatient to let her punishing strokes develop the point.  But maybe that will work on grass.  It did last year.

But the draw… ieieie…

Net-rushing Taylor Townsend in the first round, then possibly another Czech contender, Karolina Pliskova in the second.  Pliskova was a finalist here in 2021, and is showing in her comeback from injury that, despite being 34 years old, she still has a lot of game.

Also in this quarter is the biggest name of all, Serena Williams.  The Ozempic has been working and Serena looks trim.  It’s hard to know where her level will be at, but she could hardly ask for a more kindly first rounder than Maya Joint.  Despite a promising rookie year in 2025, Joint has managed only two wins on the main tour this year, and they were in January.

In her second round, Serena could face Alexandra Eala (29), the up-and-coming and incredibly popular Filipino, who made the semis in Berlin last week.  It could be a very tough match and Eala could be intimidated to face one of such stature. 

But then, and I’m praying it happens, we could see Swiatek vs Serena in the third. They have never played.  Granted this would be a diminished Serena.  But it’s probably also a diminished Swiatek.  It could be intense if 30 slam titles take to the court.

Marta Kostyuk (12) is fresh from her run to the semis of the French.  Can she translate success to grass?

Also here are grass-lovers Donna Vekic (31), Ajla Tomljanovic, and Emma Navarro (23).  Navarro made the final in Nottingham last week.

And not to be forgotten is Elina Svitolina, the eighth seed.  She has twice been to the semi-finals at Wimbledon and beat Swiatek here in 2023.  She has answers on grass, and though I think of her as excelling on clay, her record at Wimbledon is better than at the French.

Svitolina def Swiatek

 

Fourth Quarter

Amanda Anisimova (8) broke through at this tournament last year, making the final.  After getting blitzed, she made the US Open final and made a very strong showing against Sabalenka.  I thought she would do even better this year, but so far, she has not found form.

Madison Keys (26) is full of surprises, sometimes good, sometimes bad.  I don’t have much faith in her at the slams, since she scratched the itch and took the Australian last year. But she has been playing well on grass lately, so who knows.

And what quarter would be complete without it’s dangerous and unpredictable Czech? Could Linda Noskova (9) be the ‘surprise’ Czech finalist this year, like Vondrousova, Krejcikova, Pliskova, or Kvitova? She did just win the grass event in Berlin.

For good measure, her compatriot Marie Bouzkova is seeded 21, and is a former quarter-finalist at this event.

But the looming name in this quarter belongs to Elena Rybakina, the number two seed, and former winner here from 2022.  Rybakina won the Australian Open this year and is poised to take over the number one ranking if she should take the title here. She could also get to #1 if she goes a round or two deeper than Sabalenka.

Rybakina was in stellar form at the end of last year and the beginning of this one.  She’s tailed off a bit, and she’s seems plagued by illness.  Not injury, but illness.  So it’s hard to tell what we’ll get on any given day. 

There are no real favourites for this title.  No one looks like an obvious pick.  The bookies have Sabalenka and Rybakina at #1 and 2.  If she’s healthy Rybakina’s my favourite.  Not by much, but by default.  Will she be healthy?

Rybakina def Keys

 

Semis and Final

The unexpected Czech? or the top 3 of Sabalenka, Rybakina or Swiatek?  I have a feeling something crazy is going to happen, like at the French last month. I just don’t know how to predict it…

Sabalenka def Bencic

Svitolina def Rybakina

Final: Sabalenka def Svitolina

 

Bookies

Decimal odds from bet365.com on 26 June 2026:

1	Sabalenka	4.5
2	Rybakina	6.5
3	Swiatek	9
4	MAndreeva	10
5	Pegula	12
6	Gauff	13
7	Keys	15
8	Anisimova	15
9	Osaka	21
10	Muchova	23
11	Svitolina	26
12	Noskova	26
13	Jovic	29
14	Kostyuk	34
15	Vekic	51
16	Krejcikova	51
17	Bencic	51
18	SWilliams	67
19	Tauson	67
20	Shnaider	81
21	Raducanu	101
22	Kalinina	101
23	QZheng	126
24	Samsonova	126
25	Sakkari	126
26	Paolini	126
27	Navarro	126
28	Alexandrova	126
29	Yastremska	151
30	TMaria	151
31	Kalinskaya	151
32	LFernandez	151
33	Cirstea	151
34	Bouzkova	151
35	Badosa	151