Jessica Pegula explains the ‘weird’ reason why the women’s tournament at Wimbledon has been ‘so open’ for years

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The last time a women’s player won consecutive titles at Wimbledon was in 2016, when Serena Williams went back-to-back in SW19.

Since then, there has been a different champion every year, with Barbora Krejcikova winning the most recent edition in 2024.

The seven-year period without a successful title defence from any WTA star is the longest of the Open Era.

None of the current top-ten ranked players in the world have ever emerged victorious at Wimbledon, including this year’s number three seed Jessica Pegula, who weighed in on why the women’s draw has been so open in recent seasons.

Jessica Pegula explains why the women’s draw is ‘so open’

In her pre-tournament press conference, Pegula said: “I feel like it’s been like that [open] for years, though, like with Marketa [Vondrousova] and Barbora winning.

“It’s a tricky surface, and I feel like it’s… not lucky, but there’s a lot of weird points and weird momentum swings.

“If someone’s serving really well, sometimes there’s not much you can do. Sometimes it’s one net cord, and the person gets the break, and they win the match.

“The men have three out of five so maybe you don’t see that because there’s a wider span of someone having to play really well to be able to beat a top player.

“But for the women, it’s only two out of three, and if that’s one point and one break, and someone like a [Elena] Rybakina or an Aryna [Sabalenka] is serving really well, that can be really tricky.

“It does feel like one of the more open Slams. You have Aryna, who has shown she’s very dominant on the hard courts, and then you have Iga [Swiatek] and Coco [Gauff], who are really good on the clay.

“I don’t know if there’s one player that is known for being a grass court player. Even Marketa said she didn’t even think she could play on grass until she won Wimbledon.

“To me it feels open, and it has felt like that for the last few years.”

Every women’s singles winner at Wimbledon since 2016

The year after Williams won her seventh Wimbledon title in 2016, her sister, Venus Williams, made the final for the first time since 2009, but lost to Garbine Muguruza.

In both 2018 and 2019, Serena reached the final of the event again, but was defeated by Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep, respectively.

Ashleigh Barty won the title in 2021, defeating Karolina Pliskova in the final to hoist the famous trophy for the first time.

The following two years, Ons Jabeur made consecutive appearances in the championship match at the All England Club, but was overcome on both occasions; by Elena Rybakina in 2022 and Marketa Vondrousova in 2023.

Last year’s winner, Krejcikova, beat Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the final to secure a second Grand Slam title.