Emma Raducanu could disappoint in 2026 while Novak Djokovic split opinion (Image: Getty)
The 2026 tennis season is tantalisingly close, with action getting underway at the United Cup, Brisbane International, ASB Classic and Hong Kong Tennis Open in just a matter of days, so it’s the perfect time for some predictions.
This year saw Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner split the Grand Slam titles on the men’s side, while teen sensation Joao Fonseca burst onto the scene. There were four different Major winners on the women’s tour – Madison Keys, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and Aryna Sabalenka – while Amanda Anisimova rose to the top of the game, and young stars like Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko made their mark.
But there are plenty of questions going into 2026. Will Novak Djokovic be able to win one more Major title, or will he disappoint? Can Britain’s Emma Raducanu keep climbing from her current ranking of No. 29 and get back in the winner’s circle? Who will end Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominance, if anyone? Express Sport writers have taken a stab at predicting the Grand Slam champions in 2026 – plus the next breakout stars and the players who will cause a disappointment.
Australian Open
Yasmin Syed: Jannik Sinner. I actually initially picked Carlos Alcaraz to carry his momentum into next year and complete the career Grand Slam, but after his split from Juan Carlos Ferrero, I’m not so sure. Sinner is just too reliable on hard courts, and it looks like he’s still got Darren Cahill with him – extra motivation to win Down Under.
Amanda Anisimova. She’s been so impressive in 2025 and knows how to cause some trouble for the very top players – so long as she’s had a solid pre-season, the American can pick up where she left off and go all the way in Melbourne after two Grand Slam final losses in a row.
Jack McEachen: Jannik Sinner. There is little, generally, to separate Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. But the Italian’s dominance in Melbourne does set him apart and I expect Sinner to begin 2025 by getting revenge for the US Open final. Alcaraz will be competing in his first competition without long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero for six years in Australia also, he may need some time to adjust and at this level, every percentage counts.
Coco Gauff. After a semi and quarter-final in the past two years, Coco Gauff is ready to go one step further and win the Australian Open. She failed to back up her French Open title at Wimbledon or at her US Open homecoming, but typically starts seasons well and will be determined to make a statement Down Under.
Archie Griggs: It’s the only Grand Slam that Carlos Alcaraz is yet to win, but his wait for glory Down Under will go on for another year. Jannik Sinner will be on top yet again with the Italian simply too strong on the hard courts, especially in his stronghold of Melbourne. On the women’s side, there could be a minor surprise on the cards with Elena Rybakina beating Aryna Sabalenka to the honours.
Jordan Seward: 2026 is going to be Jannik Sinner’s year, starting with him completing the three-peat in Melbourne. The Italian showed new levels of athleticism and power hitting on hard and grass courts last year and there’s nobody bar Carlos Alcaraz capable with competing with him on those surfaces. If he’s fully fit, the Australian Open crown is his for the third year in a row.
It’s hard to look past Aryna Sabalenka, who has far and away established herself as the world No. 1 for 2025. She likes it in Melbourne and will fancy her chances of winning a third successive title there. If I had to go out on a limb for a dark horse, though, it’d be Amanda Anisimova. She hasn’t a got a great track record in Australia but get used to seeing her name, she’s going to be there or there abouts in slams for the next few years.
Isaac Seelochan: Jannik Sinner will join Novak Djokovic as the only male player in the Open Era to win three straight Australian Opens. News of Carlos Alcaraz’s split with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero will have a short-term effect on the Spaniard, and the pressure of completing the career Grand Slam may get to him. In the women’s, Aryna Sabalenka will bounce back from losing last year’s final to join Sinner in becoming a three-time winner of the season’s opening Slam. Her record in hard court Majors is imperious, and she will be determined to put right that close loss to Madison Keys last year.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz shared the Grand Slam titles in 2025 (Image: Getty)French Open
YS: Carlos Alcaraz hasn’t lost a match at the French Open since his 2023 cramping situation against Novak Djokovic, and I struggle to see anyone beating him there again for a good while. He’s come through some very tough finals in Paris and still ended up with the title, so I’m backing Alcaraz for the three-peat.
Iga Swiatek had some trouble on the clay in 2025 and got bagelled by Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, but the world No. 2 will return to Roland Garros with some pressure off her shoulders now that she’s not protecting a huge winning streak there, and she’ll lift the trophy again.
JM: Jannik Sinner. If not for a supernova Carlos Alcaraz, then Jannik Sinner would be the reigning Roland Garros champion. That June 7 date will have been circled in Sinner’s calendar for 364 days and to boot – he can also achieve the Career Slam by winning in Paris. That is some incentive to win.
Iga Swiatek. The four-time French Open champion had a summer fling with Wimbledon this year as she won SW19 and surprisingly crashed out in the semis a few weeks earlier in Paris. But make no mistake, Iga Swiatek is the best clay court player on the WTA Tour by some distance and strikes fear into any player she faces on the surface.
AG: Carlos Alcaraz will do Rafael Nadal proud once again by maintaining the Spanish dominance at Roland Garros. Jannik Sinner will face him in the final and if it’s anything like the 2025 edition, we’ll be in for a real treat. Iga Swiatek was stunned by Aryna Sabalenka in this year’s semi-finals but she’ll make amends with a fifth French Open title in 2026.
JS: Carlos Alcaraz remains the premier clay-court master in men’s tennis these days and although Sinner pushed him almighty close this year, I’m backing the Spaniard to reign supreme again. Going out on a limb here and going with Mirra Andreeva. The talented teenager is a crafty player with more than most in her armoury and the clay courts suit her game well. She made the semi-finals this year and will no doubt be a multiple-slam winner one day. Her first could well be at Roland-Garros in 2026.
IS: The Grand Slam dominance of Sinner and Alcaraz has to end at some stage, and after nine straight majors between the pair, this might be the one. This could be the Slam Alexander Zverev finally wins after finishing runner-up to Alcaraz in 2024. Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, will reassert her dominance at Roland Garros in the women’s and pick up a fifth title on the Parisian clay.
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Wimbledon
YS: Novak Djokovic. I still think he has one more Grand Slam title in him, and the All England Club is the most likely place. He’ll be 39(!) but he’s defied age plenty of times. It feels like Jessica Pegula is well overdue a Slam, and Wimbledon usually throws up a semi-surprise winner. Pegula’s record at SW19 might not be amazing, but she’s great on grass and even beat Iga Swiatek in a final on the surface back in June.
JM: Jannik Sinner. After two years in a row of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz sharing the spoils, 2026 is the year where the reigning Wimbledon champion lands a Major blow and takes a third inside 12 months. Not too long ago they shared the Centre Court stage and Alcaraz shouted “he is playing much better than me!” He had no answer then, and in a year of change with his coach departing, the onus is on the Spaniard to prove he has learned how to get the better of Sinner on grass.
Aryna Sabalenka. Wimbledon, in recent years, has been the up-for-grabs Grand Slam but Aryna Sabalenka can wrestle that notion back in 2026. The world No. 1 has been unlucky in Britain, having been prohibited from playing in 2022 and then injured two years later, with three semi-final appearances sandwiched in alongside those torrid editions. But Sabalenka is the best player on the planet and will be desperate to prove that on tennis’ grandest stage.
AG: Jannik Sinner will secure back-to-back titles at SW19 with Carlos Alcaraz falling just short for the second year in a row. Things are less clear-cut on the women’s side, but I think Amanda Anisimova will avenge her double-bagel thrashing in the 2025 final to claim the most prestigious title in tennis.
JS: Sinner again. Boring, I know but I can’t see past the Italian. Alcaraz will no doubt be in the conversation again but the way Sinner moves and hits on grass is unrivalled in my opinion. Toss up between Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek. The latter hasn’t traditionally fared that well on grass but she seems to have unlocked something in her game and looked impregnable at SW19 this year while Sabalenka’s big serve is always a huge weapon at Wimbledon.
IS: Normal service will resume at Wimbledon with Alcaraz claiming a third title at SW19. His record on grass since 2023 has been extraordinary, with that loss to Sinner in last year’s final his only defeat on the surface in that time. The women’s has always been harder to predict at Wimbledon, but Aryna Sabalenka, who has lost several close semi-finals in recent years, may get over the line this time.
Iga Swiatek could be back in the winner’s circle at Roland Garros (Image: Getty)US Open
YS: Jannik Sinner. Again, he’s just so inevitable on a hard court. This year’s loss to Alcaraz in the final really gave him some extra motivation to work on his game, and he’ll return to New York a year on, ready to claim the title there again. Aryna Sabalenka. I can see Sabalenka having a similar Grand Slam year in 2026 – she’ll get painfully close at the other Majors, still not have a trophy come August, but will defend her US Open title to make sure she ends the season with another big title.
JM: Carlos Alcaraz. Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner in Flushing Meadows relatively comfortably and will feel that he has the edge at the US Open. He may well be right. They have only met twice at the competition and Alcaraz has taken both. And having picked Sinner to win the first three Slams, it would be remiss of me not to think Alcaraz would go an entire season without winning a Major. He’s simply too good not to.
Jessica Pegula. The Americans always get a late-season burst of energy at home. Amanda Anisimova got to the final in 2025, Jessica Pegula also did so the previous year, and in 2023 USA had a home champion in Coco Gauff. If Pegula is to break her Grand Slam duck, the most likely place is in New York. It is the only venue where she has progressed past the quarter-finals (having fallen at that hurdle six times in three years) and she will have the crowd fully behind her. There are a host of talented Americans vying for glory at the final Major of the year, but Pegula will feel that her time is coming.
AG: I don’t know why, but something is telling me that Felix Auger-Aliassime will spring a surprise and win the US Open to end the Sincaraz dominance of Grand Slam events. Aryna Sabalenka will claim her only major title of 2026 at Flushing Meadows, beating Madison Keys in the final.
JS: Sinner again, though I wouldn’t be surprised if someone came out of the woodwork and met him in the final. Someone like Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jack Draper and maybe even Gabriel Diallo could go on a run at Flushing Meadows. Let’s go outside the box a little with this one. Madison Keys or Anisimova for a home victory. Can you imagine the atmosphere inside Arthur Ashe Stadium if an American lifted the title: it’d be pandemonium.
IS: Sinner’s impressive record on hard courts will continue in New York with a second US Open title. The Italian was poor in last year’s final, but that felt like more of an anomaly against an impressive Alcaraz in Flushing Meadows. In the women’s Amanda Anisimova may finally claim her maiden slam after an impressive 2024 season and reaching last year’s final.
Breakthrough player
YS: Aoi Ito. Ito and her unique game captured attention during US Open qualifying this year, though she lost in the final round. She’s been ranked as high as No. 82 but is currently outside the top 130, though she’s already earned a huge win over Jasmine Paolini in Montreal. With her forehand slices, dropshots and lobs, Ito’s variety will cause lots more problems for her rivals next year, and she can make an even bigger push towards the top.
JM: Nicolai Budkov Kjaer. Promising Norwegian Nicolai Budkov Kjaer has gone from strength to strength after his 2024 Wimbledon boys’ title, dominating the Challenger series with wins in Glasgow, Tampere, Astana and Mouilleron le Captif. He is on the verge of cracking the top 100 and the 19-year-old has already seen his forehand described as a “hammer” by Jannik Sinner’s coach, Darren Cahill. Big praise for a big talent, who secured his first ATP Tour win this year in Bastad. And fans already got a glimpse of his potential at the Next Gen ATP Finals.
AG: Eliot Spizzirri has jumped over 600 ranking positions in the last 12 months and will be hoping to crack the top 70 in 2026. He’s currently ranked 90th and was impressive in Brussels, where he beat Botic van de Zandschulp before losing a tight match against Felix Auger-Aliassime. Expect him to keep climbing as he navigates the leap from the Challenger Tour next year.
JS: Learner Tien will almost certainly have a breakout year in 2026. Daniil Medvedev has already described the 20-year-old as an ‘unbelievable’ player and predicted big things for him. Lower down the rankings, I think Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard can make more inroads at slams next year, particularly at Wimbledon where he gave Taylor Fritz a real run for his money a few months back.
IS: Denmark’s Elmer Moller capped the 2025 ATP Challenger Tour season on a high note when he claimed his third title of the season at the Maia Open. The 22-year-old may be able to carry that momentum into the year, as Joao Fonseca did in 2025, by making a breakthrough at the Australian Open with one or two wins. He should certainly rise higher than his current ranking of 121, and it would be no surprise if he makes his top 100 debut in 2026.
Amanda Anisimova has been backed to win a Slam after two runner-up finishes in 2025 (Image: Getty)Biggest disappointment
YS: Lorenzo Musetti. The Italian had a big year and deserved to make his long-awaited top-10 debut. But he seemed to be quite burnt out by the end of 2025, and it’s been more than three years since he last won a title. If he doesn’t grab another trophy soon, it could be tough to stay motivated and defend all of his points next year.
JM: Novak Djokovic. It would be a dream for Novak Djokovic, the greatest man to ever pick up a tennis racket, to end a potential final year of his career with a record 25th Grand Slam title. But the gulf between himself and the top two was clear for all to see on four occasions this season. Djokovic reached the semi-finals with relative comfort at each Major, but failed to put up much of a contest against either Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner. He will need a lot of luck, or injuries going against Alcaraz and Sinner, to avoid falling short of his latest goal. The Serb has a legendary career to fall back on, but it would be the perfect ending if Djokovic won just one more Slam. Unfortunately it would be a major surprise if he pulls that off.
AG: We don’t really expect much from Emma Raducanu these days, but some fans continue to hold out hope that she’ll return to her title-winning level. Sadly, it’s not going to happen. Strap yourselves in for another year of injuries and failed coaching partnerships as she tries, and fails, to prove that her US Open triumph in 2021 was anything more than a flash in the pan.
JS: Stefanos Tsitsipas has been on a slow decline for a while and I fear that trend will continue in 2026. In fact, I worry for Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev as well. They were once dubbed the ‘next coming’ but are fast approaching their 30s and only have one slam to show between them. Alcaraz and Sinner are levels above and the rise of Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur and some of the younger guys won’t be reassuring for them.
IS: Ben Shelton has received plenty of hype, but his record in Grand Slams hasn’t been great beyond a couple of semi-finals, particularly against the very best players. He may pick up the odd 250, but at the biggest events, he may struggle to step up and move higher than his current ranking of ninth.