The grass-court fortnight returns to SW19 on Monday June 29, and this edition has the cleanest set of storylines Wimbledon has had in years. Carlos Alcaraz is back to defend on his favourite surface, Jannik Sinner is healthy and finally has matches under his belt, and the women's draw could not be more open after a spring that produced four different Slam semi-finalists. Here is the lay of the land before Wednesday's draw ceremony.
The key dates
Main-draw play runs Monday June 29 through Sunday July 12. The full draw is announced Friday June 26. The middle Sunday is no longer a rest day — that change took hold in 2022 — so play runs fourteen straight days. The women's singles final is Saturday July 11, the men's the day after. Both ten-court Centre Court finals start at 2pm UK time.
Men's draw: Alcaraz, Sinner, and a thinner top tier than it looks
Carlos Alcaraz is the defending champion and the only man in the field with a hat-trick on grass already in his back pocket. He arrives off a clay swing where his backhand has finally caught up to his forehand and his serve still does enough to bail him out when a return game stalls. Sinner is the world number one and the most-prepared player on tour, but his grass record is improving year on year rather than dominating already, and his draw will matter more than usual.
Behind those two the depth is real but uneven. Alexander Zverev has just won the French Open and now needs to translate momentum to a surface that has historically eaten him alive. Daniil Medvedev's game is more grass-friendly than people remember; he made the 2023 semi-finals and remains a problem for anyone who cannot dictate first. Then there is the Joao Fonseca wave — eighteen years old, a French Open quarter-finalist in the same year — who has been moved into the eighth seed and could meet Alcaraz in the round of 16.
Women's draw: wide open, with one heavy favourite
Iga Świątek is the defending champion after finally solving grass last summer, and on form she is the clear favourite. Aryna Sabalenka is the world number one and has the serve to flatten a grass-court draw, but her run of upsets at the French Open suggested a player still rebuilding rhythm after a long spring. Mirra Andreeva won Roland-Garros in June and arrives as the tournament's hottest-form player, though her grass results have been thin.
The dark-horse list is long. Coco Gauff has the legs and the forehand to make a deep run. Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, has been quietly excellent on grass in the warm-ups. Marketa Vondrousova's left-handed slice is built for this surface, and Barbora Krejcikova showed last year what a smart shot-maker can do once the grass starts wearing down.
Storylines worth following
- Alcaraz–Sinner part nine. The pair have split the last seven Slams between them. A third Wimbledon final in a row is on the table, and the head-to-head is genuinely the best rivalry the sport has produced since Federer–Nadal.
- Joao Fonseca's grass debut at this level. Reaching the second week as a teenager would put him in company that includes Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg. The ceiling is that high.
- A British title chance. Jack Draper has been seeded fifth, the best British seeding since Andy Murray's peak. He has not made it past the quarter-finals on home grass yet, but his game finally matches the moment.
- Świątek defending her first. Successful Wimbledon defences are historically rare in the women's game. Doing it would put her in the all-time pantheon conversation at 25.
How to watch in the US, UK and beyond
In the United Kingdom, the BBC has full free-to-air coverage across BBC One, BBC Two and iPlayer, with every match streamable through the connected service. In the United States, ESPN carries the bulk of play on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+, with the final two days simulcast on ABC. Australia gets it on Nine and Stan Sport; Canada on TSN; and most of Europe through Eurosport and Discovery+. The Wimbledon Channel app produces extended highlights for the courts not on the main networks.
The unglamorous part: the weather and the courts
Wimbledon's grass is replanted every autumn from 100% perennial ryegrass and rolled to within an inch of its life before the tournament. By the second week the baseline has worn enough that the bounce becomes lower and slicier, which historically benefits big servers and players with strong volleys. The weather forecast for the opening week looks typical for southern England in early summer — mid-60s Fahrenheit, scattered showers, Centre Court roof closing two or three times. Order of play adjustments are part of the fabric.
FAQ
When is the Wimbledon 2026 draw? Friday June 26 at 10am UK time. The main-draw bracket goes live on the official Wimbledon site within minutes of the ceremony ending.
Who are the defending champions? Carlos Alcaraz (men's singles) and Iga Świątek (women's singles).
Is there still a middle Sunday? No — play runs fourteen straight days now. The middle Sunday was retired as a scheduled rest day in 2022.
How does the seeding work? The men's draw uses a modified formula that boosts seeds with strong grass-court history beyond their ATP ranking. The women's draw uses straight WTA rankings. The top eight seeds in each draw cannot meet until the quarter-finals.
Where can I follow live scores? The full schedule and live updates from SW19 are on the Scorelisto tennis page, and for World Cup and other sports stories check the Scorelisto blog.