Wimbledon is around the corner, and the expectations are high for the third Grand Slam of the season. Coco Gauff, who is coming from winning Roland Garros, and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka are the two favorites to lift the title, but legend Martina Navratilova named an unexpected candidate to the title: Madison Keys.
“After winning Australia, there’s a huge weight off her shoulders,” the former world No 1 told WTATennis.com about the American star, who won the first major of the year. “Weapons are what win on grass and she’s got them. I think she’s the third favourite to win the tournament, after Sabalenka and not far behind Gauff.”
In January, Keys won her maiden Slam in Melbourne with a strong run in which she defeated Iga Swiatek, then World No. 2, and Sabalenka on route to the title. It was the first time that any woman beat the two top seeds to win a major since 2009.
At 29, she also became both the oldest first-time women’s Australian Open champion and the player with the longest gap between their first two major finals in the Open Era. She reached her first one in 2017 at the US Open, losing to Sloane Stephens. However, during the clay season, her best results were two quarter-finals (in Madrid and Roland Garros).
To prepare for Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals in Queen’s, losing to Tatjana Maria and in Berlin, she was edged by Marketa Vondrousova, 2023 Wimbledon champion. Keys, on the other hand, has her best win-loss percentage on grass than any other surface, according to Tennis Live: 71.43%. At Wimbledon, her best result is reaching the quarter-finals (2015, 2018, 2023, and 2024).
Navratilova puts Sabalenka as the first favorite for Wimbledon
While Sabalenka has lost her last two Grand Slam finals, Navratilova thinks that Wimbledon could be the place in which she finds her charm.“Looking at her record, it’s hard to think she’s not the favourite this year,” she said. “She’s a complete player and has a good game for grass.
“It’s hard to find a weakness or an opening against her. I’m wondering if losing the French Open final will actually help motivate her. I think she finds herself in a good spot,” she added. However, she called Gauff the “best athlete in the women’s game.”
“That should pay off for her, and she’s flying high after winning the French Open. It’s just about managing her game, managing her body, her emotions. She’s found the happy medium, the equilibrium between being focused and fired up,” she added.
Wimbledon starts on June 30, and the major has been in the past three years, three different winners have emerged: Elena Rybakina, Vondrousova and defending champion for this edition, Barbora Krejcikova.