Jessica Pegula flew under the radar in the days leading up to Wimbledon as another veteran American player generated most of the headlines. However, Pegula’s draw sets her up to be the center of attention in the late stages of the tournament.
Pegula, the No. 4 seed, has the most favorable draw among the top contenders for the grass-court Grand Slam that gets underway June 29, based on the average world ranking of likely opponents.
Pegula’s first two opponents are guaranteed to be ranked outside of the top 90. None of her potential Week 1 opponents have a history of excellence on grass. Her likely quarterfinal opponent, No. 7 seed Coco Gauff, has played below her ranking at Wimbledon in recent years.
Who got the best and worst draws for Wimbledon 2026 on the WTA side?
Wimbledon has a history of producing first-time Grand Slam winners in recent years. Pegula could be the next.
Worst draw for a top seed
Mirra Andreeva probably assumed her tournament draws would get easier after winning the French Open. It didn’t happen at Wimbledon. Andreeva is the No. 5 seed, but she has the worst draw among the top 10 seeds, based on the average world ranking of likely opponents.
Her first-round foe, No. 58 Magda Linette, is an above-average opening opponent. Andreeva’s likely second-round opponent is Barbora Krejčíková, the 2024 Wimbledon winner. Andreeva also got stuck in the same quarter of the draw as top seed Aryan Sabalenka.
Best draw for Week 1
Madison Keys should make it to the first weekend. She won’t play anyone in the top 125 in her first two matches. Things will get tougher from there, as Keys likely would play 2025 Wimbledon runner-up and No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova in Round 3.
Worst draw
The good news for Harriet Dart: she got a wild card entry for your home nation’s Grand Slam. The bad news for Dart: she got the worst draw in the field. Her first opponent is Jelena Ostapenko, who is unseeded but can blast any opponent off the court when in top form.
Her likely Round 1 opponent is No. 30 seed and fan favorite Emma Raducanu. Up next would be a Round of 32 match against Sabalenka.
Maya Joint also got an unfavorable draw. It’s normally good news if you draw a wild card for your first match. Unfortunately for Joint, the wild card opponent is 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in her comeback match.
Best opportunity for an unseeded player
No one in the top section of the draw’s lower half has ever won a Grand Slam, so there’s an opportunity here for a surprise player to reach the quarterfinals. Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa could launch a comeback run from this area of the draw.
Ajla Tomljanovic, who has the easiest draw among unseeded players based on the average world ranking of likely opponents, is also in this section of the draw. Tomljanovic hasn’t advanced past the third round of a major since reaching the quarterfinals at her very first one (2014 Australian), but she has an opening here.
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