Wimbledon 2026, where to watch and live stream

Wimbledon runs in London, Great Britain from 29 Jun – 12 Jul, played on fast natural grass. Bounce sits lower than on any other tour surface and points run shorter, which puts a premium on the serve and the forecourt. It is a Grand Slam, one of the four biggest events on the tennis calendar. The singles champion takes 2,000 ranking points, plus the largest prize pool of any event on tour.

First held in 1877, played at All England Club, London. Play starts in 7 days, on Monday 29 June, with the main draw running through to Sunday 12 July.

Jannik Sinner defends the men's title · Iga Świątek defends the women's title.

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Centre Court is rolled, watered and re-cut between sessions, so the surface plays slightly differently in the first week than in the second. The freshly grown ryegrass is sturdy through the opening rounds, the bounce sits low, and a body-line first serve at 195 km/h is more or less a free point on demand. By the quarter-finals the baselines have been worn into bare dirt patches that produce irregular bounces, and players who time their footwork off the ball-toss start picking up surprises on returns they would have eaten earlier in the fortnight. The second-week roof, closed for evening matches and rain, slows the surface a touch and adds a bit of humidity, which is why Centre Court at 9pm is a different proposition from Centre Court at 2pm.

Strategically grass favours the player who can hit a heavy slice on the backhand and then move forward behind it. One-handed backhands and the chip-and-charge return, both regarded as anachronisms elsewhere on tour, remain perfectly viable here. The honour roll under the new generation has turned: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have shared the last four men’s titles, while Iga Swiatek’s 2025 women’s breakthrough on grass changed the conversation about who can win on the surface. Expect short sets, tie-breaks decided by a handful of points, and at least one big-name seed to look human against a 6’6 left-handed grass specialist in the third round.