Wimbledon Build Up Preview

Get your strawberries and cream at the ready because the 2025 Wimbledon Championships get underway on Monday, with the third Grand Slam of the year set to provide two weeks of fantastic grass-court entertainment.

Carlos Alcaraz is the two-time defending men’s singles champion, having beaten Novak Djokovic in the finals of 2023 and 2024, while Barbora Krejcikova landed her second Grand Slam title in the women’s singles last year, seeing off Jasmine Paolini in three sets.

The action from the All England Club will be shown across the BBC, with the women’s singles final set for Saturday 12th July and the men’s showpiece taking place 24 hours later on Sunday 13th July.

Tip 1: Carlos Alcaraz to win Wimbledon men’s singles @ 11/8 with bet365

It is hard to look beyond one of the current big three in the men’s game, Alcaraz, Djokovic or Jannik Sinner, from going all the way at SW19, and preference is for the defending champion to claim a third Wimbledon crown and sixth Grand Slam success overall.

Alcaraz has been nothing short of sensational over recent months, winning 22 of his 23 matches during the clay-court season, a near perfect run that saw him lift three titles, culminating in his superb comeback success against Sinner in the French Open final.

Any thoughts that the Spaniard would need time to adapt to grass after his exertions on the slower surface were put to bed by his triumph at Queen’s Club last week – his fourth title on grass.

The 22-year-old has not lost at Wimbledon since a fourth-round defeat to Sinner in 2022, but he is currently on a five-match winning streak against the Italian world number one.

Given he has also beaten Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals, Alcaraz should fancy his chances against anyone on grass and he could follow in the footsteps of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg by winning three men’s singles titles on the bounce at the All England Club.

Tip 2: Elena Rybakina to win Wimbledon women’s singles @ 5/1 with bet365

Since Serena Williams claimed her seventh women’s singles title at Wimbledon in 2016, seven different players have lifted the trophy, and only twice during that time has the champion been a top-10 seed.

That is a pattern that could well continue this year, given some of the big hitters in the women’s game, notably Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek, who have won nine of the last 13 Grand Slams between them, all have relatively poor records at SW19.

Between them, they have managed just two semi-final appearances at Wimbledon – both of which have come from Sabalenka – and it could be worth taking a chance on a player from outside that trio to go all the way.

One player that could fit the bill is world number 11 Elena Rybakina, who claimed her only Grand Slam success to date at Wimbledon in 2022 and has enjoyed runs to the quarters and semis at SW19 since that triumph.

She may not be quite the same player she was when she came from behind to beat Ons Jabeur in that 2022 final, but Rybakina has proven pedigree on grass and could be a dark horse to go all the way.