The Grass Courts

Grass court season has started. All the tournaments are building up to the Grass Court slam Wimbledon.



Wimbledon is in England and it is, in my opinion, the most prestigious slam of all the slams. WAY BACK in the day, all of the slams were grass courts. Then one by one, they all changed their surfaces. Wimbledon is the ONLY slam out of the four that still uses grass.

So all tennis players have a dream to win Wimbledon. The history, the legend...blah blah blah. I have to admit, if I was a player of that caliber, I would want to win Wimbledon too. Even though I like hard court tourneys more.

But there is a lot to grass courts that distinguishes them from the other surfaces that are really hard to see when you watch.

1. Every court is unique. By that I mean like any lawn, there are inconsistencies. A dip here, a dead spot there. So you always have to look and pay attention to the bounce. Like clay courts except the bumps are hidden. The top players at Wimbledon always have the advantage because the play on centre court EVERY TIME. So they KNOW the court. Court 2 is called the "Graveyard court" because once a champion player gets old, the tournament directors stick him on that court in hopes that he will lose due to unfamiliarity.

2. Courts get worn. everyone plays on the court for 2 weeks straight. Eventually the grass becomes DIRT. Especially at the baseline. Some players lose their footing in horrible ways. Watching players fall in Wimbledon makes you glad that they are flexible.

3. The bounce is low. With clay the bounce is high, but grass has a low bounce. So this means that your back will hate you in the morning. Depending on the way you hold your racket when you hit shots and how tall you are, you will either have a fairly comfortable tournament or a need treatment after every match.

4. Loose net cords. In England, it rains A LOT. So there is a special team of people that roll out the tarps and save the courts from being soaked. They have to pull out the net first so they keep it loose. This means that when you hit a ball and it clips the net cord, the chances of it rolling over to the opponents side is 70% or so.

With these factors, you can see how grass courts benefit shorter baseliners, good servers, people who hit a generally flat ball, and good volleyers. If you have a good serve and volley technique, you can go pretty far. Your serves will stay low, you don't have to deal with the unsure bounce when you are serving, and your volleys will also stay low.

They have slowed the grass courts since 2010. Meaning that the ball bounces a little higher giving you more time to hit the shots. So all sorts of players have a chance to win.