Wimbledon 2026 will begin its fourth round in singles on Sunday, which means that the tournament is basically halfway over. More rounds remain of round three, of course, but far fewer players. By the end, there will only remain two on the WTA and ATP sides in the finals.
Maybe some of the winners from the first week will be the ultimate winners in the second week. Besides the players, though, tennis fans were winners, too. That is because the London rain didn't fall, and temperatures were rather pleasant after a massive heatwave in the previous weeks. Rain chances are expected to remain low, but temps will rise.
Fans also won't have a chance to see Serena Williams again. She lost in singles, but she also withdrew from playing doubles with her sister, Venus. Serena suffered a knee injury in her match against Maya Joint, but hopefully the issue isn't too bad.
Winners of the first round of Wimbledon 2026
Alexandra Eala
The rising 21-year-old Filipina had yet to make it to the third round of a Grand Slam event in her short career, but she did so after beating Maya Joint in the second round. Joint was the player who defeated Serena Williams in her return to the grass-court major, so Eala dispatching the Aussie might have helped make Serena fans happy. Maybe.
But in round three, Eala was faced with trying to defeat 2025 Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek. After a tight first-set win, Eala fairly dominated the second set, and she was on to her first fourth round at a major. As well as she is playing, she might become the first Filipina to reach a Grand Slam final and then to win one.
Taylor Fritz
Fritz is keeping American hopes alive because of his huge and efficient serve. He hasn't yet won a major, but has found some success on grass courts before. In perfect form, he can win Wimbledon, becoming the first American since Pete Sampras in 2000 to do so. He shouldn't be counted out.
Jannik Sinner
Sinner was a winner ahead of the tournament as Carlos Alcaraz, his greatest rival, was going to miss the event with a wrist injury. After two tough matches to start the tournament, though, Sinner won in three sets in the third round. Even better, two of his potentially toughest opponents were bounced out in round three: Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Jodar.
Losers of the first round of Wimbledon 2026
Ben Shelton
One of the best American hopes, Shelton lost in the first round in five brutal sets to Otto Virtanen. While Shelton has the game to do well on grass courts (he's got a massive serve and a fantastic forehand), he can't get out of his own way in London, falling short of the quarterfinals every year but one.
He might become the great American hope at the US Open or Australian Open, but he's nowhere close at Wimbledon. At least Taylor Fritz might make the deep run that Shelton is incapable of.
Emma Raducanu
This could be about British tennis overall, as Jack Draper also missed Wimbledon 2026 due to an injury, but Raducanu is more frustrating. She can be a very good player, but she is also unable to stay healthy enough throughout the year to reach her best form.
She still has just the one title to her career (the 2021 US Open), but is young enough to get more. The issue is that her availability for any tournament, big or small, is quite mercurial.
