Carlos Alcaraz has won the last two Wimbledon titles and was the overwhelming favourite to claim a third before a wrist injury forced him to withdraw from the tournament entirely. The Wimbledon odds now reflect a draw that is genuinely wide open, and for British tennis, the timing could hardly be better.
Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper arrive at Wimbledon 2026 as Britain’s best hopes, with Norrie holding the British No. 1 ranking and Draper sitting just behind him at No. 2. Both have shown glimpses of what they are capable of on this surface. Neither has yet produced the sustained run over a fortnight that their ability suggests they should. This summer, with Alcaraz absent, the conditions are as favourable as they are likely to get.
Cameron Norrie
Norrie is ranked around No. 22 in the world and arrives at Wimbledon in the better form of the two. He was seeded at the 2026 French Open, pointing to a consistent season on tour, and his game has always translated well to grass. His left-handed serve, disciplined baseline play, and exceptional fitness make him a difficult opponent to break down, and those qualities were never more evident than during his run to the semi-finals in 2022, which remains the deepest run by a British man at Wimbledon since Andy Murray’s era.
Since then, the results have levelled off. He reached the quarter-finals in 2023 before losing to Alcaraz, went out in the third round in 2024 to Alexander Zverev, and in 2025 reached the third round again after beating 12th seed Frances Tiafoe in the second round. At 30 years old, Norrie is unlikely to suddenly produce a title challenge, but a run into the second week is a realistic target, and he is the kind of player who can make life very uncomfortable for higher seeds on a good day.
Jack Draper
Draper is the more intriguing of the two, and his ceiling on grass is arguably the highest of any British player since Murray. He reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in June 2025 and has the natural grass-court movement to compete with anyone in the draw on his best day. The issue is that his best days have not arrived consistently enough at Wimbledon, and his 2026 season has been severely disrupted by injury.
He missed the Australian Open with an arm problem and withdrew from both the Italian Open and French Open with a right knee tendon injury. His world ranking has slipped into the 70s as a result, and he will arrive at Wimbledon with limited match time behind him. His SW19 record has not helped his case either. In 2024, he lost to Norrie in the third round, and in 2025, as the fourth seed, he went out in the second round to Marin Cilic, who was 36 years old and ranked 83rd in the world at the time.
Stuttgart, where he won his first ATP title in 2024, is his planned return from injury and would give him crucial grass-court preparation before Wimbledon. When fit, Draper is a genuine threat on this surface. The concern is simply whether he can get enough matches into his legs before the tournament begins.
The verdict
Jannik Sinner will likely head the market in Alcaraz’s absence, and Novak Djokovic remains a factor at 38, but this is as open a Wimbledon draw as British tennis has faced in years. For anyone tracking the tennis odds across the grass-court season, Norrie represents the safer each-way interest while Draper, fitness permitting, is the one with the game to go all the way. If both arrive healthy, British tennis will not have a better chance than this.
Andy Murray · Cam Norrie · Fred Perry · Jack Draper · Wimbledon
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