​When Wimbledon began nearly two weeks ago, all eyes were on Serena Williams. After a four-year absence from the Grand Slams, the 44-year-old returned on a wild card and was edged in three sets by 20-year-old Maya Jansen in the first round. Days later, she withdrew from the first round of doubles with her sister Venus due to a knee injury she sustained during her match with Jansen.
It was a disappointing end for Serena, who, alongside Venus, helped dominate Wimbledon for years, sharing 12 of the 17 women’s singles titles between 2000 and 2016. They also captured six doubles championships during that period. But as the sisters aged beyond their primes, women’s tennis has grown far less predictable.
The last player to win consecutive Grand Slams was Naomi Osaka, who held the 2020 US Open and the 2021 Australian Open titles. And as Wimbledon advances toward its women’s singles final on Saturday, the post-Williams narrative continues. The final will feature Karolína Muchová and Linda Nosková, two Czech players who have never won a Grand Slam title. This match means a Czech winner at Wimbledon for the third time in four years. A new champion was already guaranteed early in the second week after Muchová knocked out 2024 champion Barbora Krejčíková in the Round of 16.
It will be the ninth consecutive Wimbledon to crown a first-time winner. The last time a past champion took the title was Serena Williams in 2016. Over the past decade, women’s tennis has produced several stars, including six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Świątek and four-time winner Aryna Sabalenka. Yet they remain beatable. Świątek, who won Wimbledon last year, was upset in the third round this year.
The parity in women’s tennis stands in sharp contrast to the men, where Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have handed the baton to a newer duo, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. On one hand, the leveling of the field offers more players the chance to taste success and the life-changing money that comes with a title, a factor especially meaningful in tennis, where players outside the top 100 must stretch to fund their careers. At Roland-Garros last month, surprise finalist Maja Chwalińska said she struggled to pay for hotel extensions during her three weeks in Paris. That hurdle may lessen for her after nearly tripling her career earnings with her Cinderella run.
Yet dominant stars continue to drive ratings and interest, much as Serena did during her peak and as she did again during her return last week. Viewership for Chwalińska’s final against Mirra Andreeva at Roland-Garros last month was down 44% compared to last year’s final, which featured world No. 1 Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, the most famous American. The 2026 men’s French Open final between Alexander Zverev and Flavio Cobolli was down 25% from last year’s five-hour classic between Alcaraz and Djokovic, underscoring the ongoing tension between star power and rising contenders.