This is not a reprint of the WTA seedings, which are determined purely by ranking and tell you who is protected in the draw. Rather, this is a power ranking–telling you who is most likely to win. These rankings weight grass-court history, current season form, surface-specific game profiles, physical condition, and ceiling at SW19. The women’s draw in 2026 is, by most metrics, the most open it has been in a decade. Six different Grand Slam champions in the last six majors. No back-to-back champion since Serena Williams in 2016. A field where the number one seed has never won Wimbledon and the defending champion is not considered the favourite. With that context, here is the honest order.
Pre-Wimbledon WTA Power Rankings
1. Aryna Sabalenka
WTA Ranking: 1
Previous Power Rankings: 1
Aryna Sabalenka is the World #1, a four-time Grand Slam champion, and the player whose game profile suits grass better than most people have historically given her credit for. The serve is elite. The flat groundstrokes skid through without giving opponents time. She reached the semifinal at Wimbledon last year, which represents her best result at SW19 and came after she was considered a nearly-certain finalist. Wimbledon is the only Major she has never won, and the hunger to close that gap is a relevant psychological factor on top of the objective quality of her game. She goes first. The question mark is the Roland Garros quarterfinal collapse where she dropped the final set 6-0, but there is no evidence that pattern will follow on grass.
2. Elena Rybakina
WTA Ranking: 2
Previous Power Rankings: NR
Elena Rybakina is the most dangerous grass-court player in the women’s game and goes second here because the 2026 season has been mostly excellent, her serve is the biggest individual weapon in the draw, and her 2022 Wimbledon title was earned against serious opponents on grass-specific merit. The caveat is the four-year gap between that title and now, in which she has produced a quarterfinal, a semifinal, and a third-round exit at successive Wimbledons. She arrives as World #2, in the best form of her career across a full season. If she gets through the first week without a shock exit, she is the most likely finalist on either side of the draw. Whether she can win it remains the question she has spent four years not yet answering definitively.
3. Mirra Andreeva
WTA Ranking: 5
Previous Power Rankings: 2
Mirra Andreeva is the Roland Garros champion, nineteen years old, and a player whose tactical intelligence and baseline stability already work at a level that baffles players a decade older. The honest caveat here is substantial. Her best Wimbledon result to date is a quarterfinal in 2025, and she goes third on this list primarily because of the trajectory of her season. Her game on grass is yet to be fully tested at the highest level. She skipped Berlin to recover and prepare, which is sensible management of a demanding fortnight. She is the most exciting unknown quantity in the draw. The ceiling at Wimbledon could be a final. The floor is still a second-round exit on a surface where her game is less proven than on clay.
