Sunday cleared the top half of the draw. Monday hands the bottom half its Round of 16. That means Carlos Alcaraz on Centre, Novak Djokovic on No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka closing under the roof, and the last surviving teenager in the women's draw fighting to keep her run alive on Court 2. Manic Monday in its post-2022 form — split across two days rather than crammed into one — still delivers the deepest single-day schedule of the fortnight.
Centre Court: Alcaraz opens, Sabalenka closes
Play begins at 1:30 p.m. local. Alcaraz opens against the Chilean Nicolás Jarry, who arrived at his career-first Wimbledon second week by riding a 137 mph first serve past Tommy Paul in the third round. Jarry is 6'7" and serves as fast as anyone still active on the men's side; if he is on, he holds serve without playing much of a rally, which means Alcaraz has to break once a set and hold every time. That is the version of Alcaraz we saw in the first week against Moutet on Saturday, when he dropped serve twice and still won in three. The Spaniard has the smoothest quarter of the draw and is a break-of-serve favourite in straight sets.
Second on Centre is Ons Jabeur against Emma Navarro in the rescheduled women's tie the third round would not resolve on Saturday. Jabeur has told reporters this is her last serious Wimbledon and the crowd is going to treat every Navarro winner accordingly. Navarro is the tour's cleanest return-of-serve player behind Świątek and has the depth off the ground to keep Jabeur off the net.
The Centre closer is Aryna Sabalenka against Mirra Andreeva — the tournament's highest-hyped Round of 16 tie on the women's side. Andreeva got past Elena Rybakina on Saturday in a match that lifted her from "most-promising teen" territory to a genuine trophy candidate. Sabalenka has beaten her three times out of three on tour, all in straights, but this is the first meeting since Andreeva added twelve kph to her second serve over the off-season. Whichever player breaks first wins the set; whoever manages two service breaks wins the match. Betting markets have Sabalenka a 2/5 favourite; on the eye test it is closer to even.
No. 1 Court: Djokovic, Gauff and the Rune project
Novak Djokovic opens No. 1 Court against the American Ben Shelton. It is the third Slam meeting between the two and Djokovic leads 2–0, both times in four sets. Shelton serves 145 mph on grass and drops his weight into the ball on every forehand; Djokovic returns better than anyone still active in the draw. The 2024 US Open quarter-final between the two ran to a fifth-set tiebreak and Shelton had set-points to make it five sets. On paper this is a Djokovic win in four. On the temperature reading of a Djokovic project year, it is the first genuine test.
Second on No. 1 is Coco Gauff against Jasmine Paolini in a rematch of the 2024 Roland Garros quarter-final Gauff won in a third-set tiebreak. Paolini is the higher seed at Wimbledon and reached the 2024 final; Gauff has spent the spring adjusting to a coaching change and is only now starting to serve at the tour-average first-serve percentage. Gauff's Wimbledon best is the Round of 16; winning here would be the deepest run of her Wimbledon career.
The nightcap on No. 1 is Holger Rune against Alexander Bublik. Rune is the last remaining challenger to the Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly on the men's side and a Bublik win would end that argument in twelve games. Bublik is the tour's most unpredictable serve-and-volley player and has won three grass titles in three years. He hits drop shots off return of serve. Whoever loses this leaves Wimbledon and the current questions about their season harder to answer.
No. 2 Court and the outside courts
No. 2 Court has three appointment matches. Elena Rybakina slid out of the draw on Saturday so the top of the Court 2 schedule is now Marketa Vondrousova against Barbora Krejčíková — two former Wimbledon champions in a match neither could have expected on Saturday morning. Frances Tiafoe plays Ugo Humbert in the men's draw's only all-lefthander tie, and Karolína Muchová closes with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the schedule's most fatigue-friendly slot.
Court 12 is where the day's outlier ties land. Watch Diane Parry against Elina Svitolina at 1 p.m., and the Alex Michelsen vs Tomáš Macháč tie right after. Both look like straight-sets on paper and both have upset potential if the seeded player takes the first game as a done deal. Manic Monday historically produces two surprises on the outside courts; the split-day format has not changed that number.
Storylines to follow
- The Sabalenka title defence. She has not dropped a set on grass in 2026 and is the first women's world No. 1 to reach the second week without losing serve twice. A win over Andreeva puts her one round from a projected semi against Iga Świątek and two from a title defence no woman has completed since Serena Williams in 2016.
- The Alcaraz quarter watch. If Alcaraz wins Monday he plays the Djokovic–Shelton winner in the quarter-final. An Alcaraz–Djokovic quarter is the match tennis wants; whether it's the match Alcaraz wants at this stage of a tournament is the question.
- The Gauff US swing prep. Gauff's next three months are Wimbledon, Canada, Cincinnati and the US Open. A Round of 16 exit here changes the seeding calculation for New York; a deep run changes the confidence one.
- The World Cup cross-over. France vs Japan kicks off from MetLife at 5 p.m. UK time and the Netherlands–USMNT tie starts three hours later at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The Sabalenka match and the France kickoff should overlap perfectly for the British and American audience.
How to watch
BBC One and BBC Two carry the show-court coverage in the UK, with iPlayer streaming every court end-to-end. ESPN and ESPN+ hold the US rights; Tennis Channel picks up the outside courts. In Australia, Nine and Stan carry the coverage; in Canada, TSN. Live scores and point-by-point from every court run on Scorelisto's tennis page, with the Manic Monday wrap dropping on the blog Monday night.
FAQ
Why is it called Manic Monday if the Round of 16 is split across two days? Historical inertia. Before 2022 Wimbledon did not play the middle Sunday and the whole Round of 16 played on the Monday, singles men and women both. The middle-Sunday format arrived in 2022; the name stuck. Monday is now the second half of the Round of 16, but the tone is the same: eight matches, all the surviving seeds, all on the show courts.
Is there a curfew? 11 p.m. local on Centre Court and No. 1 Court. The retractable roof allows play under floodlights, but matches in progress at 11 have historically been suspended and completed the following day.
Who's the biggest favourite left in the men's draw? Carlos Alcaraz. He has the smoothest quarter and the highest first-serve percentage of anyone remaining. Sinner's side of the draw is heavier and the Djokovic quarter is trickier on paper.
When are the quarter-finals? Wednesday July 8 for the men and Tuesday July 7 for the women. The split back to the traditional Wednesday men's quarters is a 2024 change.