Iga Swiatek's stunning rise to stardom continues at a momentous pace, and she is enjoying a wonderfully successful campaign. (More Tennis News)
Her clay-court swing was superb, with Swiatek reeling off victories in M♛adrid and Rome before claiming her thir🗹d successive French Open title, and fourth overall.
Yet for all her joy in Paris over the past four years, the 23-year-old is yet t🌠o taste victory at Wimbledon, with her run to the quarters in last year's event the best she has managed at the All England Club.
But will that run end this year, and what of the other cont🎃enders in the women's singles draw?
Swiatek's missing piece of the puzzle
Wimbledon is not the only grand slam title missing from Swiatek's growing collection, but it is the only one she has so 💯far failed༒ to reach at least the semi-finals in.
Swiatek has won 72 grand slam matches since the start of 2020, with Aryna Sabalenka (62) and Ons Jabeur (5♚1) the only other players to surpass 50 in that time🅘.
She is one of three players, along with Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins, aiming to become just the third player since the start of 202๊0 to win a Tour-level title on grass, clay and hard court in a calendar year, after Ashleigh Barty (2021) and Caroline Garcia (2022).
The Pole isꦡ also out to match a couple of✅ Serena Williams feats.
Should she win, she will be the youngest player since Williams in 2002 to triumph at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same s🐼eason, while that would make Swiatek the first player to win successive singles titles at grand slams since Williams won the French Open and Wimbledon in 2015.
Swiatek has been ha🔯nded a tough start, however. She will face Sofia Kenin,✃ the 2020 Australian Open champion, in the first round.
That being said, Swiatওek won in straight sets in both of her previous meetinꦍgs with Kenin (Roland Garros 2020 and this year's Australian Open).
History is also on her side. The player ranked at world number one has won their first-round tie in each of the last 19 women's singles at grand slams – the last time aꦐ number one lost in the opening round of a major was at the US Open 2018, with Kaia Kanepi defeating Simona Hal🍬ep.
Swi🐈atek is also the only woman to appear in all the grand slam♏ events since 2020 without ever losing in the first round in that span (17-0).
Sabalenka racing against time, Gauff's chance to shine?
Sabalenka's tussle with Swiatek was a highlight of the clay-court swing, though the Belarusian has acknowledged she may not be fit enough to feature at Wimbledon as she d⛄eals with a shoulder issue.
She has hit 309 winners in grand slam matches this year, the most of any player. Should she play and go all the way, Sabalenka would be just the third player to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon in the same calendar year after Williams (2003,ﷺ 2009-10 and 15) and Amelie Mauresmo (2006).
Sabalenka is looking to become the first player to make tꦡhe quarter-finals in eight consecutive grand slams since Williams (10 between the US Open 2014 and the Australian Open 2017), while the 26-year-old has won the opening round in her last 15 grand slam appearances.
Should the world number t✱hree not make it, then second seed Coco Gauff seems set to be Swiatek'ܫs main rival.
It is five years ago since Gauf🍌f burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old by stunning Venus Wi🎃lliams.
However, she has never made it further than the last 16 and was knock๊ed out by compatriot Kenin in the first round last year.
Reigning US Open champion Gauff will face Caroline Dolehide in the first round. Their only other Tour-level meeting came at this year's Aust𝓀ralia Open.
Gauff will be the youngest player to feature in the women's singles at Wimbledon seeded in the top two since Maria Sharapova in 2007, while she and Swiatek combine to be the youngest seeded number one and two (43 years and꧙ 141 days) at the tournament in women's singles since 2003 (Williams and Kim Clijsters).
The main battle for Gauff may well be getting on top of the surface. She has won 66.7% of her WTA main draw match﷽es on grass༺ (18-9); this is her lowest winning percentage on a single surface (72.3% on clay and 68.8% on hard court).
Home hopes
Emma Raducanu enjoyed a remarkable rise to stardom in 202💎1, impressing at Wimbledon before going on to claim her maiden grand slam title at Flushing Meadows.
But that whirl꧟wind success made way for difficult campaigns in 2022 and 2023, blighted by injuries and poor form.
However, the 21-year-old has hit her stride this grass-🐷court season and reached the last four at the Nottingham Open before claim🎀ing her first victory over a top-10 opponent when she beat Jessica Pegula at Eastbourne.
She also reached the quarters in Stuttgart in April, losing to Swiatek, and was unfortunate to be drawn against Sabalenka at Indian Wells before that. Ranked at 135 in the world, 🐽Raducanu is certainly a long shot, but she will have the backing of the home crowd, as will Katie Boulter.
Fresh from winning the Nottingham Open, world number 29 Boulter wil🐷l go up against Tatjana Mari🐻a in the first round.
Boulter is the only seeded British player in the women's singles – she is just the third Briton to be seeded at Wimbledon this century after Johanna Konta (2016,𝔍 2017, 2018 and 2019) and Raducanu (2022).
In the last three years, only Ons Jabeur (22) has won more gra♕ss-court matches than Boulter (21, level with Ekaterina Alexandrova), who has also won more matches ꦗat Wimbledon (six) than any of the other majors combined.
The 27-year-old also leads the way for winners s🌳truck in the grass-court swing so far, with 256, so she is one to watch.
The wildcards
Marketa Vondrousova is the only unseeded player to win the women's singles title at Wim꧟bledon in the Open Era, after her dream run last year.
Vondrousova (4ꩵ2 at the time of last year's tournament) is the lowest-ranked winner of the title in the past four decades. She is one of only two players ranked outside the WTA's top 25 to win the event over that span, along with Venus Williams in 2007.
Now ranked at world number six,ꦅ Vondrousova will have a target on her back this year, but will some o🍸ther unseeded players or wildcards fancy their chances?
Fou🐈r for💫mer grand slam champions (Angelique Kerber, Raducanu, Caroline Wozniacki and Naomi Osaka) will appear in a women's singles major main draw thanks to wild cards for the first time in the Open Era.
Osaka has only won four ma𓄧tches at Wimbledon, making this her least favourite grand slam, though only Caroꦇline Garcia (10.5) has averaged more aces per match in the majors this season than the Japanese star.
Kerber is the player with the most main draw wins in Wimbledon (38) among those featuring in the to🍷urnament in 2024 and is featuring at a major thanks to a wildcard for the first time in her career.
Only Victoria Azarenka (16, including 2024) has more main-draw ap🙈pearances at Wimbledon than Kerber (15) among those featuring at this year's edition.
Wozniacki will appear in꧒ Wimbledon's main draw thanks to a wildcard for the second time in her career, after 2007. She has never reached th🧔e quarters at the event.
