Recently the focus has been on the legendary Wimbledon tournament and as everyone knows it is probably one of the most famous tennis tournaments played on a grass court (Of course, played with Slazenger Tennis Balls). Of the current four Grand Slam tournaments, it is the only one that is still played on a grass. Considering that playing tennis on grass, originally known as “ lawn tennis ”, is becoming less and less common we thought we would take the opportunity to highlight this aspect of the sport that appears to be slowly disappearing.
Lawn Tennis Characteristics
Lawn tennis is widely considered to be more challenging for the players, so subsequently more interesting for the viewers to watch. Because the grass is much more slippery than clay or hard courts it becomes harder for players to play on the grass. It is common for the ball to skid and bounce low, yet still retaining most of the speed, causing the ball to rarely bounce above knee height. Therefore, it substantially increases the speed of the game, as players must reach the ball much faster in comparison to other types of courts.
The grass court season
Up until 2014, lawn tennis was certainly not the most popular in comparison to tennis on hard and clay courts. It was up until that year that the professional grass court season only consisted of: Wimbledon, two weeks of tournaments in Britain and continental Europe leading up to it, and the “Hall of Fame Tennis Championships” in the Newport, Rhode Island, United States the week after. From 2016 onwards, the grass tournaments have slowly started to pick up again.
The professional grass tournament season is now 6 weeks long for men and 5 weeks long for women. In the past 4 years several lawn tennis tournaments have been introduced again. For example, in 2015, within the ATP Tour, the Stuttgart Open became a grass court tournament. Then in 2016 the WTA Tour Mallorca, Spain, started hosting a grass court tournament as well. Furthermore, in 2017 a new ATP 250 tournament was introduced as well in Antalya, Turkey.
The Grass Court Legends
So, you may wonder, which players excel on these grass courts? For starters, Roger Federer is widely considered to be the greatest male lawn tennis player ever. He has won 7 titles at Wimbledon and reached 10 finals at the tournament overall. Without a doubt this makes him one of the best grass court players to have ever set foot on Wimbledon.
As for the women, there is a very clear “GOAT”. Of course, this could not be anybody else but the legendary Martina Navratilova. Navratilova has won a staggering 9 Wimbledon singles titles, which is the most in history for both men and women. Even at 45 years of age, Navratilova managed to win a first-round match on the grass in Eastbourne, England. It is safe to say that she is truly a lawn tennis legend.
Tennis Legend Number 3
All in all, we at Slazenger Heritage certainly have a thing for the “lawn tennis” tournaments. If this blog has sparked your passion for the grass tournaments as well, you can go to any of the grass tournaments in perfect fashion with one of our tennis sweaters. We highly recommend the “Tennis Legend Number 3”. We wish you a pleasant day and lots of fun and enjoyment watching the grass tournaments!
