Wimbledon is the most prestigious and highly sought after title in tennis, but arguably the most difficult to win due to the tirade conditions. It’s played on grass, the fastest surface in the sport, which benefits players with powerful, accurate serve, exceptional movement, and strong attacking games. Here are my 5  favourites to win the title in 2026.

Honourable mentions:

Rafael Jodar:

Clearly a rising star, he had a brilliant clay season but has no results on grass due to a minor injury, his level is there but can he harness it at SW19 this year?

Ben Shelton:

Shelton has had a rough first half of the season but recently picked up his maiden grass court title a couple of weeks ago in Stuttgart.

Alex de Minaur:

De Minaur has great movement and speed, crucial for grass court tennis but has been unable to capitalise on major opportunities at Grand Slams in the past, a major threat to top seeds but he falls short of the elite.

 Tommy Paul (21^st seed):

Tommy Paul is a heavyweight grass court player, his heave topspin forehand and flat backhand complement each other perfectly, causing chaos for his opponents to deal with. He comes into the championships with a great record, having made the final at the Queen’s club last week he looks to be a serious contender to make a deep run this year. Although injury troubles have hampered him for the past year, his recent form must not be ignored even though his ranking has dropped to just outside the top 20.

. Alexander Zverev (2^nd seed):

Undeniably Alexander Zverev is having his best season this decade, just 3 weeks ago he won his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros and his form on grass looks potentially promising after he made the semi-finals in Halle last week before falling to grass court veteran Taylor Fritz. I cannot put him higher on this list simply because of his record at Wimbledon, he has never made it past the 4^th round, and I doubt he will improve on this by too much this year – but his road to the quarters looks promising and his strong serving stats should help him through the first few rounds of the draw.

Taylor Fritz (6^th seed):

Over the past 3-4 seasons Taylor Fritz has proved that he is one of the best players on grass. 3 Eastbourne titles, finals in Halle and Stuttgart this year all prove his high caliber on this surface. It took Alcaraz to end his run in the semis last year and it would not surprise anyone if he made it to the semis, final or even won the tournament this year. However, his draw is not as clean cut as some others on this list. He plays crowd favourite Jack Draper in the first round, who recently hired retired legend Andy Murray to help with his comeback from injury. If he survives the first round his chances are high for a deep run, he will be the favourite for the match but if Draper brings his best level, he could be in trouble.

Novak Djokovic (7^th seed):

Since January Djokovic has been unable to find his top game, he made the final at the Australian open after a 4-hour classic against Jannik Sinner in semis but has not come close to replicating these results since. At the French open he suffered a 3^rd round defeat to the young Brazilian Joao Fonseca. But you should never count out the greatest, for 10 years he was unbeaten on centre court (2014-2023), he has won Wimbledon 7 times and with the absence of Alcaraz and the current weakness of Jannik Sinner, he is clearly among the favourites to win the trophy. He is the undisputed greatest of all time, and he has earned that by making his way through challenges like Sinner. But the main question is whether his body can hold on for 7 consecutive matches for him to claim a record breaking 25^th Grand Slam.

Jannik Sinner (1^st seed):

Jannik Sinner is the defending champion and leads the current field by a mile whilst his main rival Carlos Alcaraz is off with injury. He is clearly the favourite to defend his title but questions around his physical condition have been raised since his shocking 2^nd round exit at Roland Garros where he struggled with heat stroke. If he remains healthy for the entire tournament, I personally see no other winner than him, but just as in Paris his body may let him down.

Overall, the draw is quite open, we could easily see a new champion this year. But if the top seeds stay fit and prepared it seems unlikely the status quo will change. Sinner has simply been too strong over the past 6 months – losing only the 1 match in Paris last month after a 30-match win streak.