Predicting the Wimbledon 2026 major storylines

The 2026 French Open was plagued with intense heat which made weather a major storyline for the Roland Garros tournament.

It forced players to retire and withdraw and caused others to struggle mightily mid match.

That same weather storyline should not be in play for the third Grand Slam of the tennis season, the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, scheduled to begin main draw play on Monday, June 29.

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Intense heat is happening now

Unfortunately, players going through the qualifying rounds right now are dealing with intense heat which is expected to reach a peak of 93 degrees on Friday. Saturday will remain in the high eighties before the temperatures go down to 73 degrees on Monday.

Rain could be an issue for early round play on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with the highest percentage rain chance of 81% on Wednesday.

Wimbledon has two courts with retractable roofs, Centre Court and Court 1. Players whose matches are scheduled on these courts will largely be unaffected by rain.

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What will be the Wimbledon storylines

The French Open heat and the amazing play of qualifier Maja Chwalinska dominated the headlines. Wimbledon storylines are expected to center around Venus Williams and Serena Williams playing doubles and Serena playing singles.

Stan Wawrinka will be playing in his last career Wimbledon so there will be a lot of attention on him. Wawrinka, 41, the 2014 and 2015 Wimbledon quarterfinalist, is retiring at the end of the year.

The Andy Murray coached Jack Draper will grab headlines. This will be particularly true if Draper makes a deep run in his home tournament.

Because grass season is extremely short, we do not have a good feel for who will play well at Wimbledon. Many of the storylines will be written as the rounds progress.

Wimbledon will air on ESPN beginning Monday, June 29.