Wimbledon 2026 Draw Date, Prize Money: Sinner, Sabalenka headline. Big-name absentees, Eala and Raducanu seeded

Wimbledon 2026 is around the corner and we give you all the important information you need ahead of the grass-court Grand Slam at the All England Club.

This year marks the 139th edition of Wimbledon while it will be the 58th time that the tournament has been staged in the Open Era, following the start of the professional era in 1968, with the 2020 edition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Church Road, SW19, London, has staged the prestigious major since 1922 and it will be no different in 2026

What Are The Dates Of The 2026 Edition Of Wimbledon?

The 128-player singles main draws get underway on Monday, 29 June and the women’s finals are set for Saturday, 11 July with the men’s Championship match taking place on Sunday, 12 July.

The qualifying event will take place at the Wimbledon Community Sport Centre, Roehampton, from Monday 22 June until Thursday 25 June.

When Is The Draw?

The singles main draws are set for Friday, 26 June at 10am.

Who Are The Top Seeds?

Defending champion Jannik Sinner headlines the men’s draw and, with seven-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz missing due to injury, he is followed by French Open champion Alexander Zverev.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Flavio Cobolli complete the top 10.

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Sinner and seven-time champion Djokovic are the only two players in the draw who have won the title.

World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka leads Elena Rybakina, defending champion Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Mirra Andreeva, Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff, Elina Svitolina, Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova are the top 10 in the women’s draw.

In terms of other interesting storylines, Maja Chwalinska needed a wildcard to enter as she was not in the top 100 at the time of the entry list cutoff, but she will be seeded 20th.

Alex Eala, meanwhile, is playing at Wimbledon for the second time and she is seeded 29th following an impressive grass-court season while British No 1 Emma Raducanu is one place behind her.

Wildcards And More…

Of course, the big story the past few weeks has been Serena Williams’ return to tennis and she has accepted a wildcard entry into both the singles and doubles draws with sister Venus Williams her partner for the doubles.

Grigor Dimitrov and Stan Wawrinka earned wildcards in the men’s draw with the latter featuring at Wimbledon for the last time as he will retire later in 2026.

Sixteen players will join the men’s draw and 16 will be added to the women’s draw once the qualification tournaments are completed on Thursday.

Who Are Missing?

Two-time champion Alcaraz is the biggest star who won’t feature as he is out with a wrist injury and he is joined on the sidelines by fellow top-20 stars Lorenzo Musetti and Valentin Vacherot with Holger Rune also missing.

On the women’s side, world No 9 Victoria Mboko picked up a knee injury at Queen’s and she is the highest-ranked player who is absent with Hailey Baptiste and Veronika Kudermetova also ruled out.

Daily Schedule For The Two Weeks…

The action gets underway at 11:00 BST every day on the outside courts while play starts at 13:00 on Court No.1 and at 13:30 on Centre Court.

As for Championship weekend, matches on No.1 Court kick off at 11am while both the women’s and men’s finals will 16:00 local time on Centre Court on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Prize Money Available In 2026

Wimbledon organisers have increased prize money by 20% year-on-year from 2025 with this year’s total sitting at £64,200,000 ($85,2m).

Last year Sinner and Swiatek earned £3,000,000, but this year’s champions will go home with £3,600,000 (about $4,8m).