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Wimbledon begins on Monday at the All England Club in London and the best players will be vying for the honor of 2022 champion. While many notable names are missing along with ATP and WTA points, there are still plenty of strong contenders for the titles including a familiar face that fans haven't seen in a long time.
Universal Tennis INSIGHTS will provide analytics and prediction tools for in-depth coverage all tournament long. Let’s take a closer look at who is set to play in the prestigious grass-court Grand Slam.
The top-rated female player is world No. 1 Iga Swiatek (UTR Rating 13.40). Swiatek is on a 35-match win streak though she hasn’t played since capturing her second Roland Garros title. Having won six titles in a row, the Pole is a favorite despite having only played in the main draw twice. Her best result was the round of 16 last year.
The Women's Top-Rated Players by UTR Rating
1. Iga Swiatek — 13.40
2. Ons Jabeur — 13.12
3. Simona Halep — 13.08
4. Anett Kontaveit — 13.05
5. Maria Sakkari — 13.00
Ons Jabeur (13.12) is ranked No. 3 on the WTA Tour but enters at No. 2 on our Wimbledon list based on UTR Rating. She’s a force to be reckoned with on grass, winning the title in Berlin last week. Though Simona Halep (13.08) is ranked No. 19 on the WTA Tour, she’s the third-highest rated player in the field. The Romanian bounced back from a second-round loss at Roland Garros to reach the semifinals in Birmingham. Halep won the coveted Wimbledon trophy in 2019.
Anett Kontaveit (13.05) and Maria Sakkari (13.00) round out the Top 5 and Serena Williams (12.57) earns an honorable mention. The 40-year-old is making her long-awaited return to the tour, having not played since Wimbledon last year. She is getting some match experience by playing doubles in Eastbourne with Jabeur.
A lot of eyes will be on home hero 19-year-old Emma Raducanu (12.60). The Brit unexpectedly won the 2021 US Open and she’s eager to back up the performance on another huge stage. The teen made the fourth round last year when her breakthrough summer really picked up speed.
Eleven-time UTR Pro Tennis Tour champion Marcela Zacarias (11.41) made her Wimbledon debut in the qualifying event, falling to No. 15 seed Yue Yuan. The 28-year-old Mexican had played the Australian Open and US Open qualifying before and was thrilled to return to the Grand Slam level. Across all of the Wimbledon events (including juniors), 18 PTT players are taking part including Jenson Brooksby, Hanna Chang, and Stefan Kozlov.
The men’s top players are led by Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal (16.19). The 36-year-old Spaniard also won the Australian Open and has extended his record for most Grand Slam titles to 22. He’s been dealing with a lingering foot problem which could hurt his chances of winning his third major in a row.
The Men's Top-Rated Players
The second-highest rated player is 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz (16.13). He’s taking part in the Hurlingham Club exhibition alongside Nadal, Novak Djokovic (16.11), and Casper Ruud to get some point play under his belt on grass.
Djokovic is next on the top-rated list as a six-time Wimbledon champion. After a quarterfinal loss in Paris to Nadal, the Serbian dropped to No. 3 in the ATP rankings behind Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.
Medvedev won’t play at the All England Club due to the ban on Russians and Belarusians, while Zverev is recovering from ankle surgery. Stefanos Tsitsipas (15.89) and Jannik Sinner (15.78) are No. 4 and No. 5 highest-rated in the men’s field.
Honorable mention goes to Nick Kyrgios (15.73) for his unpredictability on grass. The Australian has reached three semifinals in a row: Houston, Stuttgart, and Halle. He’s ranked No. 45 on the ATP Tour but with missing names and UTR Ratings taken into account, he’s the 10th best player at Wimbledon.
As for the British favorite, Andy Murray (15.41) needed a wild card to enter, and yet, as a two-time Wimbledon champion, his name in the draw garners a huge amount of respect. He’s struggling with an abdominal injury stemming from his final run in Stuttgart.
Previews for both the men's and women’s draws, based on Universal Tennis INSIGHTS, will be revealed on Friday after the draws at made.
Stay tuned for more from INSIGHTS, and to learn more about Universal Tennis, click here.
•UTR Ratings and INSIGHTS probabilities as of 9 a.m. EST, June 22, 2022.