Will Wimbledon have a new women's champion?

Dubai: Rivalries in tennis have always been intense, especially in men’s singles. For decades, the sport has been defined by dominant superstars trading titles among themselves. From the legendary clashes between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg to the era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic — and now, the emerging battle between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — the top players have largely kept the biggest trophies within a select circle.

Wimbledon has followed a similar pattern. Carlos Alcaraz won the last two editions (2024 and 2023), while Novak Djokovic claimed four titles in the previous five years (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018) and was runner-up to Alcaraz in both of his wins.

The women’s singles story at Wimbledon, however, is strikingly different. Over the last eight editions, the tournament has crowned eight different champions: Serena Williams (2016), Garbine Muguruza (2017), Angelique Kerber (2018), Simona Halep (2019), Ashleigh Barty (2021), Elena Rybakina (2022), Marketa Vondrousova (2023), Barbora Krejcikova (2024).

This marks the longest stretch of unique champions in the history of Wimbledon women’s singles, which dates back to 1884. Notably, the first five of those winners—Williams, Muguruza, Kerber, Halep, and Barty—have since retired or stepped away from the sport.

While Wimbledon has never before seen such a streak, this kind of variety isn’t unprecedented at the majors. Roland Garros has witnessed it multiple times. From 2014 to 2021, the tournament saw eight different champions — Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Muguruza, Jelena Ostapenko, Halep, Barty, Iga swiatek, and Krejciková. Interestingly, five of these names also appear in the current Wimbledon streak.

From 1997–2004, there was another run of eight different champions — Iva Majoli, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Steffi Graf, Mary Pierce, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams, Justine Henin, and Anastasia Myskina.

The longest streak in Grand Slam history was from 1954–1963 at French Open, with 10 different women lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen — Maureen Connolly, Angela Mortimer, Althea Gibson, Shirley Bloomer, Zsuzsa Kormoczy, Christine Truman, Darlene Hard, Ann Jones, Margaret Court, and Lesley Turner.

If neither Rybakina, Vondrousova, nor Krejciková wins Wimbledon this year, the streak at SW19 will grow to nine different champions in nine years — a historic run of unpredictability and depth in women’s tennis.