How to Watch Wimbledon 2026 in the US and UK
Wimbledon is back, and the grass-court fortnight that turns even non-tennis people into tennis people runs Monday, June 29 through Sunday, July 12. Here's how to catch every minute of it from both sides of the Atlantic, plus a not-so-secret tip for watching it free in the US.
Just want it free? Jump straight to the tip.
Watching Wimbledon in the US
ESPN is the home of Wimbledon in the States, and the coverage is wall-to-wall.
Where to find it:
ESPN and ESPN2 for daily live coverage of the show courts
ABC for select matches, Middle Sunday, and the finals
The ESPN app for streaming, where ESPN+ carries every court so you can follow the match buried on Court 12 that nobody on TV is showing
Play starts at 6 a.m. Eastern most days (that's 11 a.m. in London), so the early matches are a genuine breakfast-tennis situation. Centre Court doesn't get going until 1:30 p.m. BST, which is 8:30 a.m. Eastern, so the headline matches land mid-morning your time. Set your day around it.
Tips and tricks:
Pick the right ESPN tier. ESPN Select is $12.99/month but it does not carry every court; it streams ESPN+ coverage and the bulk of the draw, while the marquee Centre Court and Court 1 matches air on ESPN and ESPN2. If you want every court plus those headline matches and ABC simulcasts in one login, ESPN Unlimited is $29.99/month and carries every ESPN-owned channel.
One month covers it. The main draw and both finals fall inside a single billing cycle, so you can subscribe, watch the full fortnight, and cancel after July 12. Under $30 for the whole thing.
Free trials are a gamble now. Services like YouTube TV carry ESPN, but the trial length bounces around (anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the day and your account), so don't count on one to cover all 14 days. Check the length shown at signup before you rely on it.
Watching Wimbledon in the UK
If you're in the UK, you have it easy, and you have it free. Wimbledon is one of the protected events that has to stay on free-to-air television, so the whole thing lives on the BBC.
What you get with the BBC:
BBC One and BBC Two for the show courts and headline matches
BBC iPlayer for up to 18 courts streaming live at once, so you can chase the match nobody else is watching
BBC Red Button for extra court options
BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds if you want it in your ears on the move
The highlights show:
Today at Wimbledon wraps the day's biggest moments every evening, so even if you missed the live play you can catch up on what actually mattered.
All of it is free with a valid UK TV licence. No subscription, no add-on, no trial countdown.
Watching Wimbledon for free in the US
There are two ways to watch without paying, and I'll be straight about both, because that's the Ground Pass way.
The free and easy one: ABC typically airs a finals encore later in the day, so if you have an antenna you can catch the finals over the air for nothing. The catch is it's on a delay, so you'll likely know the result before you watch.
The not-so-secret one: the worst-kept secret in tennis streaming. The BBC's iPlayer coverage is the gold standard, with up to 18 live courts, no ad breaks, and it's free at home in the UK. Tennis fans abroad have long used a VPN to set their location to the UK and tap into that same feed.
Here's the asterisk: BBC iPlayer is free in the UK for licence-fee payers, and using a VPN to reach it from another country goes against iPlayer's terms of service. So it's a workaround, not an officially sanctioned route.
If you go this way, here's the shape of it:
Use a reputable paid VPN. Free VPNs are slow, clog with ads, and often can't get past the geo-block anyway.
Set your server location to the UK, then open BBC iPlayer in your browser or app.
You may be asked to confirm you have a TV licence on setup.
It's the route a lot of fans quietly take. Now you know it exists. What you do with it is up to you.
WhERE YOU CAN FIND US
We're covering Wimbledon 2026 across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for the full fortnight.
See you at SW19. Well, on the couch, around sunrise, with coffee. Close enough.
Broadcast details and prices accurate as of June 2026. Confirm at espn.com and bbc.co.uk before signing up.
