Wimbledon 2026 LIVE: Serena Williams to face Maya Joint as Brits look for first win

On Sunday afternoon, 21 British players were into the main draw of the Wimbledon men’s and women’s singles. By sunset on Monday, only nine remained. Despite bright sunshine and balmy temperatures in SW19 what seemed an idyllic start to the tournament rapidly morphed into a nightmare, a truly miserable Monday, as 10 Brits fell on the opening day – the worst return for the home nation this century.

Tyra Grant really looks like she’s enjoying herself out on Court 3. She flashes a wry smile as if to say ‘fair play’ as Boulter fizzes a return right onto the line, and is looking very composed, fist pumping to her team.

She breaks to 30 and now will serve for a place in the second round!

In better news, wildcards Harry Wendelken and Katie Swan – the latter playing in her first Wimbledon in three years – have both claimed the first set in their opening matches, against Valentin Royer and Irina-Camelia Begu respectively.

202nd-ranked Wendelken is acquitting himself well against an opponent 127 places above him in the standings.

Boulter’s serve has gone missing at the wrong time and two double faults in the same game followed by a forehand unforced error help Grant to break for a 2-1 lead in this second set.

The 18-year-old has been serving really well, and not given the Brit an inch on her own service games.

Now she plays a nice reflex backhand volley at the net which just dies on the grass, and Boulter shakes her head in resignation. She’s being outplayed all over the court at the moment.

Grant holds, and court 3 has gone very quiet indeed.

Record prize money is on offer at this year’s Wimbledon, with the eventual winners of the men’s and women’s singles titles each receiving £3.6m.

Prize money was a contentious subject ahead of the 2026 Championships, leading Wimbledon to announce its biggest ever single-year uplift in an attempt to appease unhappy players.

The All England Club revealed a 20 per cent increase, with the total prize pot rising to £64.2m from last year’s £53.5m. Prize money for qualifying also increased to £6.2m.

The world’s leading players welcomed the prize money announcement as “genuine and significant step forward”, but it has not stopped protests from the players during the tournament.

The players have long argued that they should be receiving a greater percentage of the overall revenues generated by the grand slams.

Wimbledon chair Debbie Jevans said, however, that it made “no sense” to focus on prize money as a ratio of tournament earnings.

A double fault as she serves for the set doesn’t trouble Tyra Grant too much; the 18-year-old looks very composed and she holds without too much trouble. She leads 6-4 and home favourite Katie Boulter has a bit of a mountain to climb.

Elsewhere, Amanda Anisimova has clinched the first set 6-3 against Lina Gjorcheska, while 2024 runner-up and 13th seed Jasmine Paolini has dropped the first 6-0 to Robin Montgomery of the USA.

Britain’s Harry Wendelken leads Valentin Royer 5-3.

On Court 3, Katie Boulter gets a much-needed hold to love, to put the pressure back on qualifier Tyra Grant.

The Italian leads 5-4 and will now serve for the set.

Katie Boulter is an early break of serve down to Italian youngster Tyra Grant, who leads the first set 4-3.

Last year’s runner-up Amanda Anisimova leads Lina Gjorcheska 4-1, former Australian Open champion Madison Keys is 3-2 up on compatriot Kayla Day, and British wildcard Harry Wendelken leads Valentin Royer 3-2.

After yesterday’s horror show, when a record 10 Brits lost on the opening day – the worst return since records began in 2000 – we’re still searching for our first British winner of this year’s Championships.

Nine Brits play on day two: Katie Boulter opens play on Court 3 against Italian qualifier Tyra Grant, with wildcard Toby Samuel playing French Open semi-finalist and 15th seed Jakub Mensik in the third match on the same court.

On Court 18, wildcard Jack Pinnington Jones resumes his match against 28th seed Brandon Nakashima, which was postponed due to bad light yesterday evening with the Brit two sets down.

19th seed Karen Khachanov then plays Billy Harris, another British qualifier, on the same court.

Wildcards Harry Wendelken and Jacob Fearnley play Valentin Royer of France and the USA’s Alex Michelsen on courts 14 and 15 respectively, with Court 16 serving up a Brit-fest as wildcards Katie Swan, Arthur Fery and direct entrant Jan Choinski play Irina-Camelia Begu, Damir Dzumhur, and Vit Kopriva back-to-back.

1. Katie Boulter (GBR) v Tyra Caterina Grant (ITA)
2. Alex de Minaur (AUS) [5] v Roman Andres Burruchaga (ARG)
3. Jakub Mensik (CZE) [15] v Toby Samuel (GBR)
4. Not Before 5:00pm: Nadia Podoroska (ARG) v Marta Kostyuk (UKR) [12]