The Draw Is Done
The Wimbledon 2026 draw ceremony took place this morning at 10:00 BST at the All England Club. The Championships begin on Monday 29 June. Two weeks on the grass of SW19, finishing with the men’s final on Sunday 12 July.
Here is what the draw means.
Sinner and Djokovic: They Can Only Meet in the Final
The structural headline from the men’s draw: Jannik Sinner, the No.1 seed and defending champion, is in the top half. Novak Djokovic, seeded seventh, is in the bottom half.
For them to meet, both must win five matches and reach the final. There is no QF collision to look forward to, no SF showdown. If it happens, it happens on 12 July.
That matters because these are the two players with the most to say about the grass at SW19. Sinner defending. Djokovic chasing a ninth Wimbledon title. The draw has set them on opposite paths and kept that match for the very end.
Djokovic at Seven
This is the headline from the men’s seedings. Djokovic, who has won this tournament eight times, enters as the seventh seed. The six players ranked ahead of him: Sinner (1), Alexander Zverev (2), Félix Auger-Aliassime (3), Ben Shelton (4), Alex de Minaur (5), and Taylor Fritz (6).
The seeding reflects what has been a quiet year for Djokovic on tour. Wimbledon’s seedings weight grass-court results, and at 38, Djokovic has had a title-less 2026. None of that changes what he can do once he is on the grass. But seventh seed means his half of the draw includes several players capable of ending his run before a final.
Zverev, who won Roland Garros 2026, takes the No.2 spot. He arrives on grass as a Grand Slam champion. FAA at three is a genuine grass-court threat with the kind of serve that thrives at SW19. Shelton’s delivery is a weapon on any surface. These seedings do not open a clear path for anyone.
Alcaraz Is Not Here
Carlos Alcaraz, who won Wimbledon in 2023 and 2024 before losing the 2025 final to Sinner, has withdrawn with a wrist injury. His name is not in the draw.
That absence reshapes the event. Alcaraz at SW19 was, for the past three years, the main event or the main challenger. Without him, no one occupies the space he filled. Sinner’s defence becomes less about one defining rematch and more about navigating a field without a single obvious favourite to stop him.
British Players: Norrie Seeded, Fearnley With a Wildcard
Cameron Norrie is seeded in the men’s draw. Britain’s main male hope in the singles draws enters with ranking support behind him.
Jacob Fearnley, the Scottish player, has been granted a wildcard by the AELTC. That is not a routine decision. Fearnley gets his opening-round match on SW19’s grass in front of home support. His opponent will be set in the order of play.
Emma Raducanu is seeded in the women’s draw. She arrives as a home favourite in the fullest sense: the crowd, the surface, the tournament where she has made her deepest Grand Slam runs. A seeded Raducanu at Wimbledon carries weight.
Women’s Draw: The Title Sabalenka Has Never Won
Aryna Sabalenka leads the women’s draw as No.1 seed for the seventh consecutive Grand Slam. She has won multiple Slams. The one she has not won is this one.
Grass does not suit her game as naturally as hard courts or clay. But she is the No.1 player in the world for a reason: consistency, power, and the ability to find a way through fields that should, by surface, be harder for her. Wimbledon 2026 is the tournament that defines what this period in her career means.
Elena Rybakina (No.2 seed) won the 2022 title and has the serve-and-chip-and-charge game that plays better on grass than anywhere else. She belongs in the conversation every year here. Iga Swiatek (No.3 seed), the defending champion, returns having done something surprising at last year’s Championships: she won on a surface that is supposed to work against her baseline-first game.
Mirra Andreeva, seeded after winning Roland Garros 2026, brings fresh Grand Slam confidence into the draw. At her age, the question at Wimbledon is adaptation. On grass, everything is slightly different.
Serena Williams is in the women’s draw as a wildcard, continuing her professional comeback. SW19 is always significant for her.
Alex Eala of the Philippines is seeded 29th, a historic entry as the first Filipina player to receive a Wimbledon seeding.
What to Watch From Monday
The order of play for opening day drops before Monday. Key things to track:
- Which quarter of the draw Djokovic lands in: Medvedev (No.8) is in the same half. A Djokovic-Medvedev SF before a potential final against Sinner or Zverev would be the clearest storyline from that half.
- Fearnley’s first-round match. Home crowd, wildcard, first round on the grass. That is a compelling context for the opening days.
- Sabalenka’s draw in the first three rounds. How she moves through the early rounds on grass tells us more than any pre-tournament form guide.
- Raducanu’s opening match. Seeded, home, grass. Each of those three things matters.
The Championships start Monday 29 June. The draw is set.
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