Martina Navratilova has named a tennis player outside the world top 10 as the ‘favourite’ to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title this year.
A number of top stars have suffered early exits in SW19 with second-seed Coco Gauff and world No.3 Jessica Pegula crashing out in the first round.
Fifth-seed Zheng Qinwen and ninth-seed Paula Badosa lost their opening matches too – while world No.4 Jasmine Paolini, last year’s runner-up, was dumped out in the second round.
Navratilova feels the bottom half of the draw is now ‘wide open’ and with 11th-seed Elena Rybakina becoming the new favourite to land the trophy.
The Russian-born Kazakhstani star, previously ranked world No.3, won Wimbledon in 2022 – the only Grand Slam triumph of her career to date.
Rybakina reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2024 and the year before that she enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals in south west London.
‘There is a big hole in the draw’
‘The bottom half, the top seed now is Mirra Andreeva who’s seeded seventh and even if you don’t pay attention to the draw and you don’t look ahead, you know you’re in the top half or bottom half depending on when you play,’ Navratilova said.
‘So all these players know that two, three and five (seeds) are gone. Pegula, Gauff and Qinwen Zheng gone.
‘So you know there is a massive opportunity for you to get through. There is a big hole in the draw.
‘That whole bottom half is wide open and maybe Rybakina’s the favourite now even though she’s only seeded 11th. She has obviously had the best results here in the past.’
Who does Elena Rybakina face next?
Rybakina, who has won nine titles across the WTA Tour to date, has defeated Elina Avanesyan and Maria Sakkari at this year’s Championships.
The 26-year-old is back in action on Saturday when she faces 23rd-seed Clara Tauson in the third round at the All England Club.
There are still a number of higher-ranked players left in the women’s singles draw including top-seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Madison Keys, Mirra Andreeva, Iga Świątek and Emma Navarro – all seededabove Rybakina – are still fighting for the Venus Rosewater Dish as well.
