Wimbledon Preview
The Championships get underway on Monday night.
The All-England club welcomes the best players in tennis back to Wimbledon for The Championships, which starts Monday night Australian time.
It’s been a good start to the year for American women in Grand Slams, who have won both of the titles on offer - Madison Keys had her breakthrough win in Melbourne, while Coco Gauff claimed her second trophy at Roland Garros earlier this month. However grass may not be the favourite surface of the duo - Gauff has never progressed beyond the Round of 16 (2019, 2021, 2024) at Wimbledon, while Keys has never made it past the second round.
Third ranked American Jess Pegula has a Wimbledon quarter final appearance to her name, yet she remains probably the best player on the tour to not have won a Grand Slam - her closest being a finalist at last year’s U.S Open. Pegula will come into tournament with confidence, having won the grass court Hamburg Open title - defeating Iga Swiatek in the the final on Saturday.
Gauff and World number one Aryna Sabalenka put to bed any idea of tension between the pair after the Roland Garros final, when they did a TikTok dance together on Wimbledon’s centre court during practise on Friday. As the top two seeds, Sabalenka and Gauff are in opposite sides of the draw and wouldn’t meet in the tournament until the pointy end should they make it that far. Gauff has a potential tricky second round clash against former world number one Victoria Azarenka, while Belarussian Sabalenka could face Ukranian star Elina Svitolina in the round of 16.
The Czech Republic have provided the past two champions, with Barbora Krejčíková triumphing last year and wildcard Marketa Vondrousova in 2023. Krejčíková will head into the first round after an indifferent grass court preparation, fighting back twice to win from the brink of defeat to much lower ranked English opponents at the Eastbourne Open last week, before retiring from the tournament with a thigh injury.
Krejčíková’s opponent in the opening round will be Filipino rising star Alexandra Eala. The teen has had an incredible past few months as she announced herself on the tour, becoming the first woman from her country to reach a WTA final last week at Eastbourne, having defeated Grand Slam winners Iga Swiatek and Jelena Ostapenko on her way to the semis at Miami in March.
A number of Australians will feature in the singles draw, led by 16th seed Daria Kasatkina, who will play Colombian Emiliana Arango in the opening round. 21 year old Tahlia Gibson has a huge task on her hands, facing four time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka, while Ajla Tomljanovic has drawn Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Maya Joint come into Wimbledon on the back of an incredible comeback win in the final at Eastbourne to claim her first grass court title - the 19 year old saved four championship points in the third set before prevailing over fellow teen Alex Eala. Maya’s first round opponent will be 19th seed Samsonova, and she’s not the only Aussie facing a seed in round one:
Maya Joint v Liudmila Samsonova (19)
Priscilla Hon v Etkaterina Alexandrova (18)
Kim Birrell v Donna Vekic (22)
Away from the Australians, one of the opening round matches worth watching will be 10th seed Emma Navarro against wild card Petra Kvitova. Having announced recently that 2025 will be her last season on the WTA tour, it could potentially be the last match at the All-England club for new mum Kvitova, who won both of her Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.
For the local crowd, resurgent English star Emma Radacanu has been done no favours with the draw, potentially coming up against 2023 champion Vondrousova in the second round.
In the ladies doubles, several of Aussies feature. Ellen Perez is one half of the seventh seeded duo, Maya Joint and Kim Birrell will form an all-Australian combination, Olivia Gadecki will partner American Desirae Krawczyk, while Ajla Tomljanovic is pairing with Viktoriya Tomova.
Meanwhile in Mixed Doubles, some big names have been given wildcards, with the two Roland Garros champs - Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz - to partner up, as will Emma Radacanu and fellow Brit Jack Draper, while at the age of 45, Venus Williams will partner Jamie Murray.
The Championships get underway on Monday evening Australian time, with coverage on the Nine network and Stan Sport.