Wimbledon 2026 awards: Best matches, biggest surprises, and a few disappointments

Another Wimbledon is in the books, with Jannik Sinner successfully defending his men’s title and Linda Noskova becoming the 10th different women’s champion in the last 10 years.

For the second year in a row, men’s No 1 Sinner bounced back from disappointment in Paris to secure a cathartic Wimbledon crown, as the Italian defeated second seed Alexander Zverev in a gruelling four-set battle.

The 21-year-old Noskova became the youngest women’s champion since Petra Kvitova in 2011 and added to Czechia’s illustrious Wimbledon history as she defeated compatriot Karolina Muchova in a rollercoaster final.

There was not a single drop of rain across the Wimbledon fortnight while the wildcard run of Britain’s Arthur Fery, who reached the semi-finals, and the return of Serena Williams to singles at the age of 44 were also highlights during the tournament.

Here are some of the best moments from Wimbledon 2026, as well as an early look ahead to the US Open.

Best match?

Noskova’s implosion – and incredible comeback

With Linda Noskova closing in on the Wimbledon title and the scoreline at 6-2, 5-2, you would hardly describe the women’s final until that point as a classic. But from there the tension was immense, as Karolina Muchova fought back from the brink of defeat multiple times, saving five match points over the course of three games and carrying that momentum to force a deciding set. Muchova’s semi-final against Coco Gauff had a rollercoaster match tiebreak, while Aryna Sabalenka v Naomi Osaka in the fourth round was impressive for the quality of tennis from Osaka. But the final trumped every other match for sheer psychological drama and for two amazing escapes in succession: Muchova’s in that second set, and Noskova’s extraordinary display of resilience to come back to win, converting her sixth match point. FC

Djokovic’s historic quarter-final epic

At 39 years old, Djokovic played the longest match of his Wimbledon career as he defeated the third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in a match tiebreak and after five hours and 15 minutes. The longest Wimbledon quarter-final in history, which concluded shortly before 11pm, had Centre Court shaking in awe; for Djokovic, at his age, what he did that night was ludicrous. But also meant Djokovic peaked two matches before his bid for a record-breaking 25th grand slam title. Predictably, he was spent for his semi-final against Jannik Sinner, which become a “blowout”. For Djokovic, as he discussed at length afterwards, going the distance is becoming harder every year. And yet, he will be back at the age of 40, having left Centre Court with an all-time classic and still determined to provide even more. JB

Notable mentions: Muchova v Gauff, Fery v Dimitrov, Osaka v Sabalenka, Williams v Joint

Biggest surprise?

Fery’s historic wildcard run

It has to be Britain’s French-born Arthur Fery, the 23-year-old who grew up five minutes down the road from Wimbledon and started the tournament as the world no 114, but who became only the second wildcard to reach the men’s semi-finals after 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic. He started out on Court 16, wearing earplugs and struggling with nosebleeds, but then defeated Zizou Bergs in a five-set epic before his breakout run quickly became the story of the tournament. His two victories on Centre Court over Grigor Dimitrov and Flavio Cobolli, in a thrilling match-tie then emphatically in straight sets, felt like a fever dream. Despite defeat to Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, Fery single-handedly turned what had started as a miserable tournament for British players into a underdog story for the ages. JB

Osaka finds her feet on grass

There were signs pre-Wimbledon that Naomi Osaka was slowly rediscovering her best level, but she truly stepped it up a gear at SW19. Having freely conceded that she had a fractious relationship with grass – she had never previously gone beyond the third round at Wimbledon – she blitzed through the draw, toppling Aryna Sabalenka in a high-quality fourth round encounter where her clinical ball-striking and serve proved too much for the world No 1. Key to her voyage of discovery on the surface seems to have been simply playing her brilliantly destructive brand of hard-court tennis, rather than adapting it. The four-time major winner came unstuck against Muchova, who brought her A-game to their quarter-final, but nonetheless announced herself as a real contender on grass, and left with her head held high. FC

Notable mentions: Comebacks for Grigor Dimitrov and Matteo Berrettini

Biggest disappointment?

Jack Draper’s last-minute heartbreak

The cruelest of blows for the tournament, but especially Draper after his year of injury hell continued right up until the eve of Wimbledon. From world No 4 last year, Draper is now down to world No 145 and the recurrence of the arm injury that forced him to miss seven months between August and February returned with a vengeance just as the 24-year-old was building confidence with new coach Andy Murray. It also denied Wimbledon what would have been a first-round blockbuster with Taylor Fritz. Draper is scheduled to return in Washington later this month, but as he said: “There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months but this one is definitely the absolute worst.” JB

Williams’ comeback ends prematurely

Serena Williams appeared to be bending another Wimbledon thriller to her will as won the second tie set against Maya Joint under the roof on Centre Court. At the age of 44 and in her first singles match in four years, Williams’ fight and level was remarkable, even as the 20-year-old Joint showed immense resilience in the biggest match of her life to win the third. While it was incredible to Williams battling on the grand slam stage again, it was also disappointing that a knee injury curtailed her comeback and denied Wimbledon of what would have been the iconic sight of Serena and Venus Williams rekindling their doubles partnership at a combined age of 90. JB

The next generation failing to step up

With Carlos Alcaraz out of action and question marks over Jannik Sinner’s ability to bounce back from his crushing loss at the French Open (questions that were emphatically answered), on the eve of Wimbledon it looked like the prime opportunity for the ‘next gen’ to step up.

But fourth seed Ben Shelton – helming his own quarter at a grand slam for the first time – epitomised their inability to take advantage of it. The 23-year-old let a match point slip away as he crashed out in the first round to Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen, describing it as “one of the toughest losses of my career”, while other young stars like French Open semi-finalist Jakub Mensik, Brazilian star Joao Fonseca and and highly rated Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar also made early exits. If anything, it demonstrated how difficult and capricious grass-court tennis can be – but it felt a huge missed opportunity for several up-and-coming names. FC

Notable mentions: Prize money protests,Emma Raducanu injury

What about the US Open?

All eyes on the Alcaraz comeback?

Jannik Sinner perhaps put it best following the Wimbledon final. “We hope that Carlos is coming back because tennis needs him,” the world No 1 said after his victory over Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz was dearly missed during Wimbledon but the Spaniard as stepping up his comeback from wrist injury and is starting to gently hit balls with his forehand. It appears as he is attempting to return for New York, where he is defending champion. If he doesn’t, can anyone stop Sinner? Zverev took belief from his run to the Wimbledon final and is determined to become the “third man” but Alcaraz is still the only player Sinner truly fears. JB

Sabalenka to redeem her season?

Thus far, 2026 is following a similar pattern as 2025 for Aryna Sabalenka: she is indisputably the best player in the world, but the grand slams have not been kind to her, with defeats in the Australian Open final, a total implosion in the French Open quarter-finals, then the fourth-round exit to Osaka at Wimbledon. But last year she shrugged off defeats in all three of those majors to lift the US Open trophy for a second time, back on her favourite hard courts. She has previously demonstrated her ability to dig deep and recover from setbacks, and she will need all that tenacity to turn 2026 around. But as ever the women’s field has extraordinary strength in depth: new champion Noskova has the game to cause trouble in New York, while Serena Williams, no doubt fired up by an early exit at Wimbledon, could be in line for an explosive return. FC