Wimbledon gets under way today as Jannik Sinner aims to become the first man in the modern era to claim a fifth major, while women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka seeks her first Grand Slam title of the year at the All England Club.
Key takeaways
- Sinner enters as the defending champion and is regarded as the leading contender this year after Carlos Alcaraz was absent.
- Sabalenka has held the WTA No. 1 spot since late 2024 but has managed just one major win in the last 18 months.
- Both finalists from recent big moments are navigating confidence swings: Sinner after a late French Open setback, Sabalenka after a quarter-final collapse in Paris.
- Novak Djokovic, chasing a 25th Slam that would move him above Margaret Court, believes Wimbledon suits him physically and mentally.
- Play on Centre Court begins at 12:30 GMT with a packed opening slate across multiple show courts.
Sinner’s Wimbledon build-up and opening test
With Carlos Alcaraz missing the tournament and also a two-time Wimbledon winner, Sinner has emerged as the clear favourite for this year’s championship. The Italian, though, may have to manage two factors outside his usual control: sweltering conditions and a limited run-up to the grass-court showpiece.
After a second-round loss at the French Open, where he was positioned close to victory before cramping up in heavy heat, the 24-year-old opted not to enter any warm-up events before the move to grass.
That decision, he suggested, could actually help him. Ahead of his first match at Wimbledon against Serbian teenager Miomir Kecmanovic, Sinner argued that arriving without match-week disruptions can reduce uncertainty.
“If you play a tournament before here, maybe it’s not going the way you would like to, you come here with some doubts,” he told reporters.
“If you don’t play any tournament, you don’t have these doubts, you just go and play.”
Sabalenka’s form, French Open blow, and Djokovic’s quest
Sabalenka has been sitting at the summit of the WTA rankings since late 2024, but her major haul has been relatively thin for a player of her stature: she has won only one Grand Slam title across the past 18 months, even after reaching four finals.
Her most recent major disappointment came at Roland Garros last month, where she suffered a dramatic collapse in the quarter-finals against Diana Shnaider. After leading into the match, Sabalenka lost the final 10 games straight to exit the tournament.
She said afterwards that she wanted to “quit tennis”, but she has since worked with a psychologist. She also indicated that the sting of defeat has not hit her as hard as it did previously, pointing to her loss to Jessica Pegula in this month’s Berlin Open semi-finals.
“I felt really good throughout the tournament there. I struggled a little bit here and there, but overall I feel like things are clicking back together,” she told reporters ahead of her opening meeting with Teodora Kostovic.
Sabalenka is a four-time Grand Slam champion, yet she is still chasing her maiden Wimbledon title. Her Wimbledon record shows a steady upward trend, with a semi-final appearance in each of her last three visits.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic has spent the last two and a half years chasing a 25th major trophy, a landmark that would take him past Margaret Court in the all-time standings. Wimbledon is viewed by many as his most realistic path to that goal.
Since lifting his seventh Wimbledon crown in 2022, Djokovic has reached two finals and a semi-final at the All England Club. The 39-year-old, who last played a five-set match when he lost to Brazilian Joao Fonseca at the French Open, said he feels better prepared for Wimbledon than he did entering Roland Garros.
“Playing on grass, comparing to clay, you don’t need to exert as much physical effort. So that’s better for me,” he added.
“I always loved playing on grass. I have a very good score here, history, in Wimbledon. That gives me a higher dose of confidence coming into the tournament.”
Order of play: Centre Court (play begins 12:30 GMT)
Jannik Sinner (Italy) v Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia)
Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) v Teodora Kostovic (Serbia)
Wu Yibing (China) v Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Order of play: Court Number One (play begins 12:00 GMT)
Antonia Ruzic (Croatia) v Emma Raducanu (Britain)
Marin Cilic (Croatia) v Daniil Medvedev (Russia)
Magda Linette (Poland) v Mirra Andreeva (Russia)
Order of play: Court Number Two (play begins 10:00 GMT)
Jessica Pegula (U.S.) v Darja Vidmanova (Czech Republic)
Michael Zheng (U.S.) v Cameron Norrie (Britain)
Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada) v Aleksandr Shevchenko (Kazakhstan)
Tamara Korpatsch (Germany) v Coco Gauff (U.S.)
