Six storylines to look out for at Wimbledon 2026

Two home favourites going into The Championships will be British No.1s Emma Raducanu and Cam Norrie.

Raducanu comes into the tournament in fine form, having finished runner-up in her first WTA 500 final at the HSBC Championships, missing out on the title to former Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic.

The Brit made runs to the fourth round at the Slam on two occasions (2021, 2024) and comes into the tournament as the 30th seed so will be eyeing up another deep run on the grass in south west London – starting against Antonia Ruzic.

Norrie will also be a threat at this year's Wimbledon with a history of strong performances at the event under his belt including a semi-final run in 2022. The world No.29 was also the last Brit standing at the 2025 event – eventually bowing out in the quarter-finals to future runner up Carlos Alcaraz.

Despite a slow start to his grass court season – the Brit missed out in the first round of the HSBC Championships to fourth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina – the 26 seed will be aiming to replicate last year’s form in his first round draw against Michael Zheng.

A wide-open men’s draw

The men’s winner is proving hard to predict of late, with Carlos Alcaraz still out with a wrist injury and Jannik Sinner making an early departure from Roland Garros, it could be anyone’s game at Wimbledon this year.

Roland Garros made history this year in featuring a first-time champion in Alexander Zverev coming up against Flavio Cobolli on his final debut as well at Czech star Jakub Mensík and Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi both reaching a first semi-final at the event. It was the first time in the last 10 Grand Slams that a player not named Alcaraz or Sinner has lifted the trophy.  

Along with this, the grass court season so far has brough first time title holders on the surface including Ben Shelton beating Taylor Fritz in Stuttgart, while Kamil Majchrzak picked up his first ATP title against Alex de Minaur in s-Hertongenbosch. Francisco Cerundalo got biggest title of his career at Queen’s while Francis Tiafoe picked up his second grass title in Halle.

The unpredictability of recent results could bring around one of the most exiting Wimbledon draws in the past few years.

Qualifiers and wild cards poised for upsets

A trend emerging this summer, is the success of qualifiers and wild cards at a variety of tournaments on the grass with the Brits, spurred on by home crowds, proving to be stand outs.

It started at the Lexus Birmingham Open where wild card Mika Stojsavljevic reached her first WTA 125 quarter-final after an impressive week at the tournament before. 

Extending the British wild card at the HSBC Championships was Katie Boulter and Arthur Fery. Boulter picked up the biggest win of her career against world No.2 Elena Rybakina on her way to the semi-finals while Fery reached his first ATP quarter-final on his tournament main draw debut.

17-year-old Hannah Klugman returned to the Lexus Nottingham Open as a lucky loser having missed out in the final round of qualifying to bag her first WTA main draw win against compatriot Harriet Dart. 

Elsewhere, Toby Samuel claimed a main draw spot at the Lexus Eastbourne Open with the lucky loser picking up his first ATP Tour win on an impressive run to the semi-finals where he missed out to fourth seed Ugo Humbert.

On the international side, Maja Chwalinska will take up a Wimbledon wild card spot having made a historic run from qualifying to the Roland Garros final. She’s the second player to do so at a Grand Slam in the Open Era since Emma Raducanu.

Underdog wins in the WTA draws

The women’s main draw champions have also caused some excitement on tour with none of the usual suspects coming up trumps and a host of players, new and returning, lifting silverware.

Donna Vekic took home her first title on grass at the HSBC Championships – the lucky loser got a spot in the main draw and fought her way to the  final where she took down Raducanu.

Marie Bouskova also secured a maiden grass trophy as well this summer – defeating third seed Emma Navarro to liftthe Lexus Nottingham Open title, becoming just the second Czech woman to do so.

Elsewhere on tour, Linda Noskova saw off in-form Jessica Pergula to pick up the singles title in Berlin before pairing up with Ekaterina Alexandrova to lift their first doubles title together at the same tournament.

The variety in results makes it difficult to predict who will come out on top on the women’s draw at the end of two weeks in Wimbledon. 

More British success in wheelchair competition

As we celebrate 50 years of wheelchair, no pair have been more successful that doubles world No.1s Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid.

The British duo has won a record 24 Grand Slam titles together, most recently their seventh straight title at Roland Garros as well as having picked up six on the grass at Wimbledon. 

Both players will be joining a host of international stars at the Lexus British Open Roehampton next week as their final preparation on the grass ahead of the major.

With each player having picked up as singles title at the Slam too – Reid in 2016 and Hewett in 2024 – they both be looking for more silverware and records to break in SW19.

Keep up with the British players at SW19 on our Wimbledon results page. You can also watch and listen to live Wimbledon coverage exclusively on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport's digital platforms, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.