It’s the perfect era for under-the-radar women’s tennis players hoping to make their mark at Wimbledon.
Three of the most surprising women’s championship runs in the history of the All-England Club occurred in the 2020s. The top players of the current decade haven’t established themselves as consistent winners on grass, which opened the door for a string of surprise Wimbledon champions.
Iga Swiatek restored some semblance of order when she won at the All-England Club last year for her sixth major title. But we might be at a point where it’s more surprising if there isn’t a surprise Wimbledon champion. Meet the five most unexpected Wimbledon women’s winners.
Who were the most surprising Wimbledon women’s champions?
#5 – Maria Sharapova (2004)
Sharapova was clearly a talented 17-year-old on the rise when Wimbledon started in the summer of 2004. She had just reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and won the Wimbledon tune-up in Birmingham. She had recently entered the top 20 in the rankings and was seeded 13th at the All-England Club.
Sharapova battled her way to the title match, where her reward seemed a likely beating at the hands of top-seeded Serena Williams. At the time, Williams was the two-time defending champion. At the time, no double-digit seed had won the Wimbledon women’s title.
As expected, the final was one-sided. Very unexpectedly, it was one-sided in Sharapova’s favor. Sharapova stunned the tennis world with a 6-1, 6-4 victory. At the time, Sharapova was the worst-seeded player to win the women’s title at the All-England Club.
Sharapova’s one-sided win in the final is even more inexplicable in retrospect. Sharapova beat Williams in three sets in their next meeting, at the 2004 year-end championships. Williams proceeded to win the next 19 meetings in a row.
#4 – Marion Bartoli (2013)
Bartoli was both lucky and good when she emerged from an upset-filled 2013 Wimbledon as the women’s champion.
Bartoli arrived at the All-England Club in 2013 as a respected 28-year-old who reached the 2007 Wimbledon final and at least the quarterfinals at the other slams. However, she hadn’t claimed a title in her first 46 Grand Slam appearances, and there was no reason to expect her 47th would be any different.
Bartoli, the No. 15 seed, was lucky. She won the event without playing anyone seeded better than 17th as upsets decimated the field. She was also good. She won all seven of her matches in straight sets, including the final against Sabine Lisicki.
Bartoli, winning her first Grand Slam in her 47th major appearance, broke the women’s record for most major appearances before a title. She went out with a bang. Bartoli retired a few weeks after her unexpected Wimbledon win.
#3 – Elena Rybakina (2022)
Rybakina might be the No. 2 player in the world and a Wimbledon favorite now, but the reaction to her title at the All-England Club in 2022 was, “Who? From where?”
The 2022 women’s field was already missing some top players due to the All-England Club’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Though born in Russia, Rybakina was eligible to compete at Wimbledon because she had represented Kazakhstan since 2018.
The draw was further decimated by early upsets – something that would become common in Wimbledon women’s draws in the early 2020s. Eight of the top 10 seeds lost in the first three rounds. Rybakina’s quarterfinal and semifinal matches were against unseeded Ajla Tomljanović and No. 16 seed Simona Halep. Rybakina overcame No. 3 seed Ons Jabeur in three sets in the final.
If this article had been written in 2022, we’d consider it the most surprising women’s Wimbledon win of all time.
#2 - Barbora Krejcikova (2024)
Krejcikova is arguably one of the most surprising champions at two majors – the French Open and Wimbledon. She rose as high as No. 2 in the world in the aftermath of her 2021 French Open title, but was the No. 31 seed when Wimbledon started in 2024.
Krejcikova benefited when top seed Iga Swiatek, who was destined to win Wimbledon in 2025 and would have been Krejcikova’s quarterfinal opponent, was knocked out in the third round.
Krejcikova took it from there, playing her best in the big moments. She won six of seven sets that were decided by 7-5 or 7-6 scores. She toughed out three-set wins against No. 4 seed Rybakina in the semifinals and against No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini in the final to become the second-worst-ranked women’s winner at the All-England Club.
#1 – Marketa Vondrousova (2023)
Vondrousova was back in the headlines this week when she was suspended for four years for refusing an anti-doping test. Three years ago, she was in the headlines as the most unexpected women's Wimbledon champion.
The only thing that possibly explains Vondrousova’s win: All talented left-handed Czech players are destined to win Wimbledon. Voundrousova joined Martina Navratilova and Petra Kvitova on the list of Czech lefties to win the women’s title at the All-England Club.
Otherwise, nothing about Vondrousova’s 2023 title makes sense. Vondrousova became the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon women’s title. Her ranking of No. 42 is the worst for a women’s Wimbledon winner.
Some saw Vondrousova as a potential Grand Slam winner – but not on grass. Vondrousova reached the 2019 French Open final and has a career winning percentage close to 75 percent on clay. By comparison, Vondrousova has just a 9-6 career record at Wimbledon – meaning she is just 2-6 at the All-England Club outside of the year she won the championship.
The pivotal match in Vondrousova’s title run was a three-set win against No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in a quarterfinal. She then knocked off fellow unseeded player Elina Sviolina in the semifinals and a nervous Ons Jabuer in the final to become the most unlikely Wimbledon women’s winner of all time.
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