Wimbledon doubles guide: History, events, rules & key players
The doubles draws are underway at The Championships, Wimbledon 2026 – with plenty of excitement surrounding the British challenge this year.
Find out everything you need to know about doubles at Wimbledon, including the history, the draws, rules, who’s playing and where you can follow.
What are the doubles events at Wimbledon?
Wimbledon has three main draw doubles events:
- Women’s doubles
- Men’s doubles
- Mixed doubles
The women’s and men’s doubles draws include a field of 64 teams, while the mixed doubles consists of 32 pairs.
There are also doubles draws in the Wimbledon wheelchair and junior events as well, including:
- Women’s wheelchair doubles
- Men’s wheelchair doubles
- Quad wheelchair doubles
- Girls’ doubles
- Boys’ doubles
When did doubles start at Wimbledon?
Doubles was introduced at Wimbledon in 1884, with British brothers Ernest and William Renshaw winning the men’s doubles title. The brothers won five of the first six men’s doubles tournaments at Wimbledon.
Women’s doubles was later introduced in 1913, with two Brits – Dora Boothby and Winifried McNair – crowned as the first champions.
Mixed doubles was also first contested in 1913 with Hope Crisp and Agnes Tuckey claiming the title.
What are the different rules in doubles?
The rules in doubles are largely the same as singles – you still get two serves, one bounce, etc.
The key difference is the size of the court. In doubles, the tramlines on the outside of the court are in – giving the players a wider space to hit into. However, serves still have to land inside the service box.
How does doubles scoring work at Wimbledon?
Doubles scoring at Wimbledon is best of three tie-break sets, with a match tie-break to 10 at the end of the third set.
This is different to the WTA and ATP Tour events, where they play a match tie-break at one set all.
Doubles players to watch out for at Wimbledon 2026
There is plenty of British hope in the 2026 Wimbledon doubles draws. Reigning champions Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool are back to defend their title after going the whole of the 2025 grass court season unbeaten.
They are joined by other former British champions Henry Patten and Neal Skupski. Patten and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara are the top seeds and the current No.1 team in the world, while Skupski is playing with American Christian Harrison after the two won the Australian Open this year.
Three-time semi-finalist and two-time mixed doubles runner-up Joe Salisbury is another dangerous British player in this year’s draw.
On the women’s side, HSBC Championships winner Olivia Nicholls and her partner Tereza Mihalikova will be ones to watch.
Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden have also had title success on the grass at the Lexus Nottingham Open, and all-British team Katie Boulter and Heather Watson will no doubt be fan favourites.
Keep an eye out for some exciting mixed doubles partnerships too, including Patten and Nicholls, two-time champions Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk, Salisbury and former US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez, and former mixed doubles winner Watson with Marcus Willis.
How to follow the doubles at Wimbledon 2026
You can watch all the doubles matches from Wimbledon 2026 across the BBC, BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer.
Check out the draws, schedule and live scores via the links below:
2026 Wimbledon doubles prize money
Men's & women's doubles prize money
|
Round |
Prize money |
| Champions | £760,000 |
| Runners-up | £380,000 |
| Semi-finalists | £190,000 |
| Quarter-finalists | £95,000 |
| Third round | £48,000 |
| Second round | £29,000 |
| First round | £18,000 |
Mixed doubles prize money
|
Round |
Prize money |
| Champions | £148,000 |
| Runners-up | £74,000 |
| Semi-finalists | £37,000 |
| Quarter-finalists | £19,000 |
| Second round | £10,000 |
| First round | £5,200 |
Have British players won doubles titles at Wimbledon?
There have been a number of British doubles champions at Wimbledon during the Open Era, including three consecutive men’s doubles titles from 2023-2025.
British Wimbledon doubles champions since 1969
Men’s doubles:
- 2012 – Jonathan Marray (with Frederik Nielsen)
- 2023 – Neal Skupski (with Wesley Koolhof)
- 2024 – Henry Patten (with Harri Heliovaara)
- 2025 – Julian Cash & Lloyd Glasspool
Women’s doubles:
There have been no British women’s doubles champions at Wimbledon during the Open Era.
Mixed doubles:
- 1969 – Ann Jones (with Fred Stolle)
- 1983 – John Lloyd (with Wendy Turnbull)
- 1984 – John Lloyd (with Wendy Turnbull)
- 1987 – Jeremy Bates & Jo Durie
- 2007 – Jamie Murray (with Jelena Jankovic)
- 2016 – Heather Watson (with Henri Kontinen)
- 2017 – Jamie Murray (with Martina Hingis)
- 2021 – Neal Skupski (with Desirae Krawczyk)
- 2022 – Neal Skupski (with Desirae Krawczyk)
Who has won the most doubles titles at Wimbledon?
Since the beginning of the Open Era, Martina Navratilova has lifted seven women’s doubles titles.
The American won her first in 1976 with Chris Evert and went on to claim the trophy alongside Billie Jean King and Pam Shriver, including four straight titles between 1981-1984.
Todd Woodbridge holds the record for most Wimbledon men’s doubles titles in the Open Era with nine.
The Australian won six trophies with Mark Woodforde in the mid-90s, followed by three with Jonas Bjorkman from 2002-2004.
In mixed doubles, Navratilova and India’s Leander Paes have both won a record four titles in the Open Era – including one trophy together in 2003. Both players won all four of their titles with different partners.