Biggest South African athletes to look out for ahead of Wimbledon 2025

It's the third major tennis competition of the year, with the best players in the world heading to a small corner of London for the grand affair. Wimbledon is unique in being the only Grand Slam played on grass.

Being a Grand Slam, interest in the event will naturally be high, and for online wagering options, a high-quality resource site like AskGamblers ZA can help in finding reputable platforms for tennis betting. Examining the latest Wimbledon odds as listed by reputable bookmakers also offers a great picture of who is expected to feature in the title races.

South Africa at Wimbledon

During the first round of both men's and women's draws, 128 players will enter. Of those spots, 104 are filled in each draw by confirmed entries, with the remaining ones being filled through other means of entry, including qualifiers, wild cards, and lucky losers.

The main draw entry lists for Wimbledon are based on both the current world rankings and special rankings, the latter being for players returning from a long-term injury or maternity leave. Qualifying for The Championships is achieved through a separate knockout competition, giving players the chance to earn one of 16 spots in the main draw.

Among the list of official entries for the 2025 singles men's and women's draws at Wimbledon, only one South African player will be taking part in the main event, and that is Lloyd Harris.

Harris moves into main draw 

Lloyd Harris was due to enter into Wimbledon qualifying this week. With his protected ranking status, he was set to be the third seed for those qualifiers, which are played over three rounds. 

However, a series of late withdrawals over the weekend has seen Harris avoid qualifying and move straight into the main draw. Casper Ruud, Arthur Fils and Zhang Zhizhen all withdrew from Wimbledon on Saturday, opening the door for Harris, Fabio Fognini and Elmer Moller to take their place.

Harris was riding high in the tennis world a few years ago, highlighted by a quarter-final appearance at the US Open in 2021, but wrist surgery in 2022 and back surgery in late 2024 derailed his progress. He is back to full fitness, however, and is hoping to make a swift move back up the tennis rankings.

Harris, who was born in Cape Town, fought through Wimbledon qualifying last year and matched his previous best in the main draw by reaching the second round. He was stopped there in a deciding set tie-break against 14th seed Benjamin Shelton from America.

Notable South African performances at Wimbledon

While South Africa waits for its first Wimbledon champion, a small handful of players have come close.

Brian Norton lost in the 1921 Wimbledon final to the USA's Bill Tilden in five sets. This was followed by a long wait until 2018 before another South African player reached the final.

That player was Kevin Anderson, who defied the odds to reach the showcase match in 2018. However, he lost against Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Given his opponent was a three-time Wimbledon champion at that point, Anderson's challenge was already huge.

It was made significantly greater by an exhausting marathon of a semi-final match he'd been through against John Isner, which lasted for a total of 6 hours and 36 minutes. It was the second-longest men's singles match ever at Wimbledon.

The current status of South African players

In mid-June 2025, just ahead of Wimbledon, all South African players on the ATP sat outside of the top 300 rankings, with Lloyd Harris being the highest at #310. Harris hit a career-high ranking of #31 in 2021.

Current top three ranked RSA ATP players

- 319 Lloyd Harris

- 397 Philip Henning

- 438 Kris Van Wyk

In the WTA, there are currently no South African players ranked inside the Top 500 in the world, which explains the lack of representatives at Wimbledon this year.

Current top three Ranked RSA WTA players

- 776 Zoe Kruger

- 846 Isabella Kruger

- 1083 Wozuko Mdulwa

It is always worth considering however that younger athletes, like in the case of Wozuko Mdulwa, have the opportunity to drastically climb the ranking as long as their performance maintains at a good level in their available tournaments.

International Wimbledon players in 2025

Wimbledon 2025 may sadly be lacking a strong presence from a South African, but it is still one of the greatest tennis spectacles on the planet and something to look forward to. Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, who recently won the French Open for the third time in a row, will look to complete a hat-trick at Wimbledon as well after being crowned champion for the last two years. His biggest challenge is likely to come from Italy's Jannik Sinner, who is seeking his maiden Wimbledon crown.

In the women's draw, Barbora Krejcíkova stunned the field last year to claim the title. Each of the last seven winners of the women's Championship has been a first-time Wimbledon winner, the last two both being from the Czech Republic. 2025's WTA form players Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, who contested the recent French Open final, are the frontrunners in London.