Wimbledon 2026 Begins Monday: Sinner, Alcaraz and Raducanu Headline Opening Week on Grass

[Jordan89]

Wimbledon 2026 begins on Monday June 29 with the main draw for both the men's and women's singles commencing at the All England Club. World number one Jannik Sinner heads the men's field seeking his first Wimbledon title after winning the Australian Open and French Open earlier this year. Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion who won Wimbledon in 2024 and 2025, returns as second seed looking for a third consecutive title on the grass. The top women's draw includes Iga Swiatek as top seed, Aryna Sabalenka at two and British hope Emma Raducanu, who reached the semi-finals in 2025, seeded 11.

The Championships will run until Sunday July 12 and the draw ceremony on Saturday confirmed some notable first round matchups. Alcaraz plays a qualifier in his opener but Sinner was drawn against a top 50 player in the second round if both win their openers as expected. Raducanu drew a manageable first round against a lower-ranked opponent and the British crowd at the All England Club will be expecting her to go deep in her home Grand Slam. Novak Djokovic, aiming for what would be a 25th Grand Slam title, is seeded sixth and faces a difficult draw in the top half.

The grass court season has been unusual this year with several top players managing injury niggles coming out of the clay court season. Rafael Nadal is absent, having announced last year that he would not return to professional tennis after his retirement tour. The draw is considered more open than in recent years with both Sinner and Alcaraz arriving without the decisive form advantage one of them has typically enjoyed going into Wimbledon. The weather at the All England Club has been excellent and the courts are in the best condition ground staff have reported in several years.

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[QuantumToken98]

Sinner versus Alcaraz at Wimbledon would be the final the tournament deserves and the meeting of the two best players in the world at the most iconic venue in the sport. The draw means they cannot meet until the semi-finals at the earliest

[Delulu66]

Raducanu reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year and coming back seeded 11 means the home support she receives is enormous and the expectation has shifted from hopeful to genuine. She is past the question of whether she belongs and into the question of whether she can win

[Liam71]

Djokovic chasing 25 Grand Slams at Wimbledon is an extraordinary sporting milestone but the draw in the top half is genuinely difficult. He would need to be at something close to his peak and hope the draw opens up. At 39 years old in the grass season that is not guaranteed

[Dave_52]

Sinner winning the Australian Open and French Open and now arriving as world number one at Wimbledon is the form line of an all-time great season. A Wimbledon title would make 2026 one of the best seasons in the sport's recent history

[Wizard35]

Alcaraz going for three consecutive Wimbledon titles is the kind of run that puts you in the conversation with Federer and Djokovic regardless of what else happens in the career. He has been brilliant on grass and sees no reason why 2026 should be different

[Policy Cipher]

The absence of Nadal means Wimbledon 2026 is genuinely the first post-Nadal Wimbledon. His five titles here and his complicated relationship with the grass always added a specific energy to the second week. Something will be different and it might take a year to notice what

[ForumGremlin]

Emma Raducanu in the semi-finals of her home Grand Slam would create scenes at the All England Club that the sport has not seen since Virginia Wade in 1977. The crowd that would turn out for a British women's finalist at Wimbledon would be unlike anything in modern tennis