WTA Weekly: Wimbledon Preview | Can Swiatek defender her crown? Sabalenka to win first title? And what about Serena Williams' return? Oh - and dark horses Eala & Pliskova

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
LaMina Moll steps into McDonald's, looks left, sees Polisic, looks right, sees Jimenez. Gives a nod to Ronaldinho in the corner with a FIFA World Cup meal.
Ronaldinho sees Son in the booth. Son finds Beckham going for extra Big Mac sauce. He's got Davies at the table just behind him. Davies going for his collectible cup. A steal by Henri, who pulls his own collectible cup. Collect one of nine legendary cups with a FIFA World Cup meal.

**Murtagh Murtaghyan** (0:25)
Participating McDonald's for a limited time.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:26)
While supplies last.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:27)
Rights Reserve 2026 McDonald's at FIFA World Cup 2026

**SPEAKER_4** (0:30)
Are all batteries the same?
That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with power boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats, because they're built different. And Messi, only trusts Duracell.

**Claire Tausson** (1:00)
So you're saying with Hilton Honors, I can use points for a free night's day anywhere? Anywhere.
What about fancy places like the Canopy in Paris? Yeah, Hilton Honors, baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries like the Conrad in Touloume?

**Nick Skerritt** (1:13)
Hilton Honors, baby.

**Claire Tausson** (1:15)
What about the five-star Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives? Are you gonna do this for all 9,000 properties?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:22)
When you want points that can take you anywhere, anytime, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay.

**Claire Tausson** (1:29)
My name is Claire Tausson, and I'm a friend of the show.

**Nick Skerritt** (1:34)
I am Francisco George, and I'm a friend of the show.

**John** (1:38)
Hi, my name is Susan Lehmans, and I'm a friend of the show.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:42)
My name is Zainab Samas, and I'm a friend of the show. Hey guys, my name is Sasha Vickery, and I'm a friend of the show.

**John** (1:50)
Boom.

**Nick Skerritt** (1:52)
Hi, my name is Lloyd Harris, and I'm a friend of the show.

**John** (1:55)
Perfect.

**Murtagh Murtaghyan** (1:57)
Hi, my name is Jaim Faria, and I'm a friend of the show.

**John** (2:00)
Boom.

**Nick Skerritt** (2:01)
Yes.

**John** (2:01)
Take one, well done.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:03)
Hi, my name is Jasmine Paolini, and I'm a friend of the show.

**John** (2:07)
Wow, Jasmine, you got it in one time.

**Nick Skerritt** (2:10)
Ready?
Play.
Well, hello there, and welcome to WTA Weekly. We are back. It is one of the biggest shows of the year. It's Wimbledon tomorrow. I love doing this draw preview because we're not guessing who's playing who with qualifiers or everything else like that. And it's my favorite Grand Slam. It's my home Grand Slam. And someone who looks like they're right at home on the grass, Murtatunga is here for this, as he is for every big episode. Murt, how are you doing?

**Murtagh Murtaghyan** (2:50)
Hello, Nick. Great to be here. And yes, my background looks, the grass on my background looks a little bit worn out, but yes, I do feel at home.

**Nick Skerritt** (2:59)
Am I remembering right that there used to be a grass court tournament in Turkey? I don't think it was for the WT, I think it was the ATP.

**Murtagh Murtaghyan** (3:05)
Yes, it was a one-year thing, and it was kind of disastrous. It was held in the southern part of Turkey at 40 degrees type of weather. And Dominic team went and left after the first round.
And well, yeah, I mean, it didn't do much. It was just one year.

**Nick Skerritt** (3:26)
We tried, we tried. Maybe they should have done it on clay.

**Murtagh Murtaghyan** (3:29)
Perhaps, perhaps. The idea was good, but the location anyway, yeah, not much to do.

**Nick Skerritt** (3:35)
We're not into that. We're into the perfect grass court location, which is SW19 in London. So what we're going to do is we're going to go through section by section of the Wimbledon draw for the WTA.
We're well aware that there are things that happened this week in Bad Homburg and Eastbourne. We will cover the stories of the champions as we get to them and any other stories from there, like when we picked them out on the draw. But what I did want to do is basically say what we'll do is we'll go through section by section, pick out any stories. If you spot any first round matches you like to look of as well, Mert, please mention it. But I guess let's get into it. So we start as always at the top and we may as well do it sort of eighth by eighth because the Grand Slam draw are quite big. Although you managed to get a quarter by quarter, fantastic. So we'll still do it kind of, I guess, eighth by eighth because there's a lot of names in there. We'll start with Serena Sabalenka. And what do you make of Sabalenka section her path to the quarterfinals potentially? Because I see a lot of players that on paper have some decent form behind them. But none of them I feel super confident in beating Sabalenka.