Tennis news

No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina was beaten 7-6(4), 6-1 by Belgium's Elise Mertens in the third round on July 4.

Rybakina had won the Australian Open in 2026 to double her Grand Slam tally before arriving at Wimbledon.

The loss means the top three women's seeds — Sabalenka, Rybakina and Swiatek — all exited by the fourth round.

Mertens reached the last 16 for the fourth time in her Wimbledon career.

The chaos has opened the draw for unseeded and lower-seeded players heading into the quarterfinals.

British wildcard Arthur Fery, 23, overcame persistent nosebleeds to defeat Zizou Bergs in a five-set thriller on July 4.

He required medical treatment three times and twice came back from 4-1 deficits in the fourth and fifth sets.

Fery won 2-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(10/5) in four hours and 38 minutes.

He becomes the first British wildcard to reach the Wimbledon fourth round in the Open Era.

Fery faces Grigor Dimitrov on Centre Court in the round of 16 on Monday July 6.

Serena Williams, 44, lost her first singles match in nearly four years to 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 on Centre Court.

Williams received a wild card for both singles and doubles (partnering Venus) at Wimbledon — her first Grand Slam singles appearance since the 2022 US Open.

She sustained a right knee injury at the end of the first set; her knee was reportedly swollen, with staff offering her crutches.

Her agent confirmed the injury but did not rule out Williams playing her doubles match with Venus later in the week.

Williams' youngest daughter Adira, almost three years old, watched her mother play singles for the first time.

The ITIA handed 2023 Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová a four-year ban, effective June 2026, set to expire in June 2030.

The ban was not for a positive test but for failing to comply with anti-doping testing protocols — specifically refusing to open her door to an anti-doping officer in December 2025.

Vondroušová denied ever doping, stating 'I have never doped. I have never had a positive test.'

Critics drew comparisons with Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, both of whom tested positive for banned substances but received significantly shorter bans.

The ban threatens to end Vondroušová's career at just 26 years old.

Wimbledon's 2026 total prize fund is £64.2 million, a 20% rise from £53.5 million in 2025 and the largest single-year increase in the tournament's history.

Singles champions each receive £3.6 million, while runners-up take home £1.8 million.

First-round losers receive £80,000, a 21.2% increase from the prior year.

Leading ATP and WTA players publicly welcomed the move as a 'genuine and significant step forward,' though the purse still falls short of their 22% revenue-share target.

Players staged a media boycott at Roland Garros earlier in 2026 over insufficient prize money, adding context to the Wimbledon announcement.

World No. 74 Jan-Lennard Struff defeated eighth seed Daniil Medvedev 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-5 in the third round.

Medvedev led by a break in all three sets — including 5-2 in the third — but failed to convert any of those advantages.

Struff has now won six tie-breaks across his first three rounds, a tally in the opening three rounds at a Major only bettered by Wayne Arthurs in 1999.

The 36-year-old German came through back-to-back five-set battles before eliminating Medvedev.

Medvedev's early exit continues a troubling pattern of Grand Slam underperformance in 2026.

Novak Djokovic defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-5, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) in the third round to record his 105th Wimbledon singles match win.

The win ties Roger Federer for the most men's singles victories in Wimbledon history; only Martina Navratilova (120) has won more across all genders.

The 39-year-old also equalled Federer's record of reaching the pre-quarterfinals at Wimbledon 18 times.

Djokovic next faces qualifier Roman Safiullin in the fourth round on Sunday.

Defending champion Jannik Sinner also reached the fourth round the same day, beating Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Dan Evans, 36, officially retired from professional tennis on July 2 after a first-round doubles defeat at Wimbledon alongside 20-year-old Henry Searle.

Evans and Searle lost 6-2, 6-4 to ninth seeds Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Court 15, in front of an emotional crowd wearing 'thank you Dan' shirts.

Evans had been denied a singles wildcard by the All England Club and the LTA, losing in qualifying, and used his farewell press conference to demand transparency over the decision.

The career-high world No. 21 won two ATP titles, helped Great Britain win the Davis Cup in 2015, and partnered Andy Murray at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Evans announced he will move into coaching, taking on Henry Searle as his first client after a two-decade professional career.

Frances Tiafoe won the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany ahead of Wimbledon, beating Taylor Fritz in the final to claim the grass-court title.

Ben Shelton had won the Stuttgart title the week before, meaning American men won both major Wimbledon warm-up events in consecutive weeks.

Taylor Fritz and Shelton went a combined 10-1 on grass across the two weeks when not counting their direct meetings against each other.

Seven Americans advanced to the third round at Wimbledon on the men's side, the strongest collective US showing in years.

It has been 23 years since an American man (Andy Roddick, 2003 US Open) last won a Grand Slam singles title, raising hopes that the drought could end in 2026.

British wildcard Arthur Fery, 23, reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, defeating Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-3.

Fery came back from a set down and had to navigate a tight second set before dominating the final two sets with three breaks.

His run continued a strong summer on grass that has drawn significant attention to British tennis's next generation.

However, three other British players — Katie Swan, Jacob Fearnley, and Jan Choinski — exited in the second round on the same day.

Fery faces Eastbourne Open champion Zizou Bergs in his third-round match, their first meeting at tour level.