From world no.1 Swiatek to defending champion Rybakina, here are top 5 contenders for Wimbledon 2023 women's crown

Compared to the men’s tournament, the women’s singles have been a free-for-all, with nobody being able to knock down a legacy as a consistent contender to win at Wimbledon. The last 6 editions have seen 6 different champions, and although all have been big names in the women’s tour, their difficulty in defending their championship shows what a difficult task it can be at a tournament everyone wants to win so desperately. To boot, only the most recent of those six champions is at Wimbledon this year. A couple of upsets could mean this is anybody’s tournament to win.

Nonetheless, there will be some who are favoured to win ahead of others. Here is a list of the top contenders for the ladies’ championship at Wimbledon in 2023:

1. The world number one in the world, Iga Swiatek has won three of the last five grand slam tournaments. At just 22 years old, she is the best player on the WTA tour, but will want her hard court and clay court expertise to start translating to grass court success. She has never made it to a Wimbledon quarterfinal, however, and that is something she will want to fix. With great speed and powerful groundstrokes, she is a threat on any surface, and will be the favourite at Wimbledon as well
   
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2. Elena Rybakina enters the 2023 tournament as defending champion, having gone from strength to strength since her remarkably dominant 2022 run. She has risen to number 3 in the world, performing excellently all year, reaching the final at the Australian Open and winning the WTA 1000 events in Indian Wells and Rome. There will be slight concern as she suffered from respiratory illness at Roland Garros and viral illness in the recent Eastbourne tournament, but she knows how to win at Wimbledon and that might be key.

• The third member of a fantastic year-long three-way rivalry with Swiatek and Rybakina, Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka delivered on her promise in Melbourne and will be looking to add a win at Wimbledon to her growing resume. Having challenged for number one all year but never quite reaching it, winning at SW19 will be important for the Belarusian, who missed out last year due to the ban. She beat Rybakina in Melbourne and Swiatek in the Madrid 1000 event, and her powerful style will be difficult for most to handle on the fast grass.
  
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• There are only two multiple-time champions in the women’s singles draw at Wimbledon: Venus Williams and Petra Kvitova. Kvitova won the title in 2011 and then in 2014, with her left-handedness and accurate serves being the biggest weapons in her arsenal. Kvitova spent some years in the wilderness after a brutal knife attack injured her dominant left hand in 2016, but has enjoyed the best spell since her return over the last 12 months, rising from outside the top 30 and back into the top 10 with a big win at the Miami 1000. Her expertise on grass and experience at this level will mean none of the other contenders will be too happy about facing her.

• Karolina Muchova enjoyed an impressive main draw debut at Wimbledon in 2019, becoming the first woman to reach the quarterfinals in her debut since Li Na in 2006. She backed that up with another quarterfinal appearance in 2021, becoming only the third woman in history to reach at least the quarters in both of their first tries at Wimbledon. She is enjoying a strong return in 2023 after an injury in 2022, and reached the finals at Roland Garros to prove it, beating Maria Sakkari and Sabalenka on the way. Her former results at SW19 combined with her current form will make her a threat in the draw — Sabalenka is scheduled for a rematch in the fourth round, and that might be an important match early in the tournament to decide how the rest of it follows.

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