Wimbledon 2026's Grand Slam debuts: Grant, Kostovic, Gjorcheska and more

Five players will make their Grand Slam main-draw debuts at Wimbledon 2026 -- one direct entrant, three qualifiers and one wild card. Get to know them here:

Alicia Dudeney (GBR)

In recent years, the pipeline from college tennis to the ATP Tour has provided a steady stream of British men: Cameron Norrie, Jacob Fearnley, Toby Samuel. Fewer of the country's women have taken that route -- but 23-year-old Alicia Dudeney is looking to break the mold.

After reaching the 2021 Wimbledon girls' quarterfinals as a wild card, Dudeney -- who was a member of the same Brighton club as Sonay Kartal -- opted to study business at the University of Florida, where another future Top 50 player, McCartney Kessler, was a teammate. Dudeney graduated last year -- and, with her focus now on the professional circuit, has kept winning and winning. Unranked last May, she's reached her current position of No. 246 in just 13 months. Seven ITF titles helped with that, and between March and May this year she won 25 out of 27 matches.

Dudeney's rise was perfectly timed for her to come to prominence for the British grass-court season. She claimed an impressive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Yulia Putintseva in Nottingham qualifying two weeks ago, her first Top 100 win, and went on to make her WTA main-draw debut as a lucky loser. Though she fell 6-4, 7-6(2) to Dayana Yastremska in the first round, Dudeney forced the Ukrainian to come from a break down in both sets.

Awarded a wild card for Wimbledon next week, Dudeney will open against near-namesake Alycia Parks in the first round.

Lina Gjorcheska (MKD)

Lina Gjorcheska will make history for North Macedonia as the first player from her country to compete in a Grand Slam main draw when she takes on No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova in the first round next week.

The road to this national milestone has been a "patient" one, as the 31-year-old put it after defeating Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-2 in her final qualifying match last week. Gjorcheska has been a trailblazer for North Macedonia all the way -- back in 2017, she became the first player from her country to contest a WTA main draw as a lucky loser in Biel, and she reached her career high of No. 170 in the same year. Currently at No. 223, she's the only North Macedonian ever to reach the Top 300 in the PIF WTA Rankings.

But although Gjorcheska managed to play 13 Grand Slam qualifying draws between 2016 and 2026, previously reaching the final round at the 2017 Australian Open, Biel 2017 remained her sole tour-level appearance until this week. However, Gjorcheska has 15 ITF titles in singles and 47 in doubles to her name, as well as a Top 100 victory over Panna Udvardy at the 2022 Ceska Lipa ITF W75. Her match against Anisimova will mark the first time she has played an opponent ranked above No. 40.

North Macedonia is the 13th country this century to be represented in a women's Grand Slam main draw for the first time, and the first since Andorra's Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva qualified for the US Open last year.

Tyra Caterina Grant (ITA)

Born in Rome to an Italian mother (Cinzia, a tennis instructor) and an American father (Tyrone, a basketball player), Tyra Caterina Grant spent her teenage years being courted by two of the most powerful national federations in tennis. A dual citizen of both nations, she represented the United States as a junior. But Grant feels her tennis and mindset owe more to Italy, the country where she grew up -- and where she began training alongside ATP No. 1 Jannik Sinner as a 7-year-old at the Piatti Tennis Center. In 2025, she began competing under the Italian flag.

Read more: Get to know Tyra Caterina Grant: Italy's top prospect breaks through in Rome

A three-time girls' doubles Grand Slam champion (Roland Garros 2023 with Clervie Ngounoue, and the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2024 with Iva Jovic), the 18-year-old's transition out of juniors has mostly gone swimmingly -- though she has had to navigate an injury setback this year. Between November 2024 and 2025, she cut her ranking from No. 916 to No. 206 -- enough for her to make her Grand Slam qualifying debut at the Australian Open this year. A shoulder injury sidelined her in January, though, and her subsequent ranking dip meant that she missed the Roland Garros qualifying cut as well.

On her return, Grant hit top form on clay this spring. She qualified for Madrid and defeated Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 6-2 in the first round for her first WTA main-draw win. Her second followed just two weeks later on home soil in Rome, where she triumphed 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 over compatriot Lisa Pigato. And -- with a place in Wimbledon qualifying still not guaranteed -- Grant continued her tear to win the Kosice ITF W75 event and reach her first WTA 125 final in Foggia, climbing to No. 157 by the start of June.

Now at No. 173, Grant impressed in her belated Grand Slam qualifying event with wins over Taylah Preston, Joanna Garland and Harmony Tan to make the main draw. She will open against Katie Boulter in the first round.

Teodora Kostovic (SRB)

Like Grant, 18-year-old Teodora Kostovic is a former Top 5 junior with solid grass-court experience under her belt. The Serb is a two-time Wimbledon girls' quarterfinalist, and also won the 2024 Roehampton ITF J300 event, defeating Iva Jovic in the final. Two years on from that title, Kostovic returned to Roehampton to extend her unbeaten streak at the site to nine matches. She navigated Grand Slam qualifying for the first time with wins over Ku Yeonwoo and two former Top 50 opponents, Rebecca Sramkova and Zhu Lin.

Kostovic's SW19 debut will be a baptism of fire: she takes on No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the first round, having never previously faced a player ranked inside the Top 50. But if anyone's up for the challenge, it's this teenager with no shortage of moxie. Before the main draw was made, Kostovic had already declared that Sabalenka was her preferred first-round opponent -- not so she could feel what the World No. 1's power was like, but so Sabalenka could feel the heat Kostovic can bring.

"Let's see if she can deal with my power," Kostovic said. "Of course I can beat her. I can beat anybody when I'm in the zone."

Three high-level WTA qualifying wild cards in 2025 provided a springboard to Kostovic's rise from No. 898 to No. 190 last year. She won rounds in Abu Dhabi and Miami, then qualified for her first WTA main draw in Madrid, and claimed four Top 100 wins in total last season.

"I'm a big fighter," Kostovic said about her vocal on-court passion after qualifying. "Yes, I fight for every point, and I think all the girls know that now. I will never give up. Even if I'm down 6-0, 5-0, 40-0, I will fight and fight, because that's me."

That spirit has brought her to No. 184 in the world -- and whether she delivers on her belief that she can beat Sabalenka, Kostovic is sure to make her presence felt in the biggest match of her career so far.

Darja Vidmanova (CZE)

There are noteworthy college tennis results, and then there's what Darja Vidmanova accomplished during her time at the University of Georgia. Last year, she became just the third woman in history to achieve the NCAA Triple Crown -- winning the singles, doubles and team titles over the course of her collegiate career -- following Linda Gates and Nicole Gibbs.

Expectations were high after Vidmanova graduated and went pro last year. In 2024, while still a student, the Czech had compiled a 40-8 ITF record, ending the year at No. 382. In 2025, she cut that to No. 141 with a 33-10 record that included three ITF titles (Santo Domingo W35, Sumter W75 and Cary W75), her Grand Slam qualifying debut at the US Open and her first WTA main-draw win (over Alycia Parks in Guadalajara as a qualifier -- also her first Top 100 victory).

Though Vidmanova fell in the final round of Australian Open qualifying in January to Bai Zhuoxuan, she's continued to push on in 2026 with her first WTA 125 final in Oeiras in February, and her first WTA 125 trophy in Figueira da Foz last week. Having already gained direct entry to the Wimbledon main draw, the Figueira da Foz title run has enabled Vidmanova to make her Top 100 debut at No. 90 this week.

The 23-year-old's reward is a first ever meeting with a Top 50 player when she faces No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in the first round next week.

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