One of the highlights of the British sporting summer begins on Monday as the world's best tennis players descend on south-west London for the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, where Jannik Sinner is a red-hot favourite in his bid to retain the men's singles title.
Sinner dominated the spring ATP Tour schedule, winning five straight Masters 1000 events, and he was sent off at prohibitive odds at the French Open last month, only to suffer a shock second-round exit to Juan Manuel Cerundolo after failing to cope with the searing Parisian heat.
In the absence of his great rival Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner is the odds-on favourite in the men's singles draw, but others, including 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, will be hoping they can lower his colours.
Men's Wimbledon Tips and Predictions
Outright Prediction: Taylor Fritz (20/1)
Dark Horse Tip: Felix Auger-Aliassime (40/1)
Expert Tip: Matteo Berrettini to win third quarter (15/2)
Men's Wimbledon Format
Each match in the Wimbledon men's singles competition is played over the best-of-five-sets format, with the main draw starting with 128 players and 32 of those being seeded.
First-Round Matches to Watch
Jannik Sinner v Miomir Kecmanovic
There will be plenty of eyes on defending champion Sinner when he takes to the court to take on Serb Miomir Kecmanovic, who has reached the third round at SW19 in three of the last four years.
The problem for Kecmanovic is that he has lost four out of four to Sinner, including a 6-1 6-4 6-2 in the Wimbledon third round two years ago.
Stan Wawrinka v Matteo Berrettini
Stan Wawrinka is making his final Wimbledon appearance and has been handed a tough first-round assignment against 2021 runner-up Matteo Berrettini, who showed what he is capable of by reaching the French Open quarter-finals earlier this season.
Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, has never previously played Berrettini and it may well be a battle of which player's fitness stands up to the test.
Taylor Fritz v Jack Draper
Fitness will also be key for British star Jack Draper, who has only just returned to the match court after a lengthy and frustrating injury absence and who faces a massive opening test against Taylor Fritz.
Draper holds a 3-2 H2H advantage over 2024 US Open finalist Fritz, but it may be expecting too much of the Brit to cause a shock after his catalogue of injury problems.
Men's Wimbledon Favourites
Sinner claimed a fourth Grand Slam title with a 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory over Carlos Alcaraz in last year's final and the Italian is a strong favourite to retain his title at 8/15.
Sinner, who has not been seen in competitive action since the French Open, is followed in the market by seven-time champion Djokovic, who is an 11/2 shot in a bid to pull clear of Margaret Court by winning a 25th Grand Slam.
Having capitalised on Sinner's shock defeat to triumph in PAris, Alexander Zverev is 9/1 to make it back-to-back Grand Slam titles, while American pair Ben Shelton (16/1) and Taylor Fritz (20/1) are also in the title running.
Data-Led Men’s Wimbledon Predictions & Analytics
Jannik Sinner has won 92.5% of his matches this season (37 wins from 40 matches)
Novak Djokovic has an 89% win rate at Wimbledon - a 102–13 career win-loss record
Alexander Zverev has a Wimbledon win percentage of just 64%, compared to 77.3% across the other three Slams and has never been beyond the fourth round
Taylor Fritz leads the ATP Tour with 494 aces, 70 more than Alexander Zverev in second place
Men's Wimbledon Outright Prediction
Sinner is the most likely winner of Wimbledon, but the Italian opted out of his usual warm-up in Halle and he might not resume in the same brilliant form that saw him capture titles in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome in the spring.
Djokovic is a fading force and would likely be required to see off Sinner in the semi-finals to win Wimbledon, so the best option for outright punters is to look for the each-way value in the bottom half of the draw.
Zverev is the top seed in the bottom half, but his grass-court form is questionable - he has never reached a Wimbledon quarter-final - and there are no guarantees he is freed up following his overdue Grand Slam breakthrough at Roland Garros.
Instead, it's the Americans who appeal most with Fritz preferred to the well-backed Shelton.
Fritz is a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, losing to Alcaraz last year, and the Spaniard's absence has ironically given him an opportunity to at least reach the final 12 months later.
The 28-year-old Californian has had an impressive grass campaign, reaching the Stuttgart final where he lost out to Shelton, then doing likewise in Halle before finding Frances Tiafoe too strong.
While he was disappointed to lose on both occasions, those performances should have him spot on for SW19, particularly after he made the sensible decision to bypass the Eastbourne International.
A huge server and powerful baseliner, 20/1 Fritz has long looked capable of winning Grand Slam titles and this year's Wimbledon looks as good a chance as he's had for some time.
Dark Horses to Watch
Given Sinner's domination of the betting market, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what constitutes a Dark Horse and, on paper at least, third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime does not quite fit the bill given his lofty ranking.
However, the Canadian is attractively priced for a tournament that has been shared among the ATP Tour's very elite over the last couple of decades, with Roger Federer and Djokovic, in particular, doing the bulk of the winning.
Auger-Aliassime will never be at that level, but he's a super-fit, capable player who reached the quarters of the French Open last month and has the ability to spring a surprise, for all that he might have to see off both Sinner and Djokovic to win the title.
Rising Czech star Jakub Mensik has a good game for grass and should make his presence felt in the latter rounds, while it would be wrong to rule out the prospect of bold bids from French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli and impressive Brazilian youngster Joao Fonseca, among others.
Expert Tip
Stuttgart champion Shelton has been well backed in the men's outright market and is favourite to win the third quarter, but it could be worth taking a chance on the fitness of big-serving Italian Berrettini.
Berrettini, beaten by Djokovic in the 2021 Wimbledon final, was forced to retire mid-match in the quarter-finals of the French Open, but his hip problem was reported as not being serious, so there is a decent chance he will be close to full fitness at Wimbledon.
In a wide-open section of the draw, the 30-year-old can make his big-stage experience count and land odds of 15/2.
Who Wins the Men's Wimbledon Singles?
The outright market illustrates Sinner's superiority in the Wimbledon men's draw, but he showed at Roland Garros that he is not infallible.
He remains the likeliest winner by quite some distance, but temperatures will remain high in London, which is an obvious negative, as is Sinner's decision to opt out of a grass-court warm-up tournament,
Djokovic remains capable, but the veteran now struggles to handle the best-of-five format, so punters should focus their attention on those at bigger each-way prices who are drawn opposite Sinner.
American duo Shelton and Fritz look most likely to capitalise if the Italian defending champion falters.
Read more tennis betting tips and predictions on site.
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
