Wimbledon ready to serve fresh surprises as women's tournament takes shape

Coco Gauff couldn't help noticing it as she arrived at Wimbledon and walked past the champions' wall. On the grasscourts of SW19, the past seven tournaments have produced seven different winners of the women's title, and not all of them

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

Coco Gauff couldn’t help noticing it as she arrived at Wimbledon and walked past the champions’ wall. On the grasscourts of SW19, the past seven tournaments have produced seven different winners of the women’s title, and not all of them

have been the usual names, either. “Sometimes this tournament looks a little bit different,” said the world No 1 Iga Swiatek. “Players that are also sometimes underdogs can win it, I feel. The chance is bigger.”

If last year brought history as Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded player to win the Championships in the Open era, there is a sense that Wimbledon could produce another unlikely champion this year.

Certainly, there isn’t a player in the draw who carries the weight of Swiatek at the French Open, where the Pole last month won a third title in a row, looking unbeatable on her favourite surface. But the translation from clay to grass has proved challenging. Swiatek’s preparations weren’t helped by having to withdraw from her only warm-up tournament on grass in Berlin, as she cited “overall physical and mental fatigue” following her dominant clay-court stretch.

Swiatek’s struggles are part of a wider theme, and help explain why Wimbledon has not seen a dominant women’s champion since Serena Williams. Ash Barty could have been one after her title in 2021, but the closest the Australian will get to singles trophy this year is by working as a pundit for the BBC. In the two years since Barty’s title, there have been surprise champions in Vondrousova and Elena Rybakina.