The Green Grass of Home

With the traditional summer months fast approaching, those of a sporting persuasion will begin think of the hallowed lush turf of Wimbledon, and its famed tennis championships. Holding the distinction of being the oldest tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon is considered the most prestigious event on the tennis calendar. 

A position that plays in no small part thanks to the tournament’s steep history, and its importance on tradition. Currently, Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament which is still played on the sport’s original surface of lawn grass.

With that said, looking at the tennis circuit as a whole, there is an apparent lack of grass court events being played. In fact, there are only seven during the year on both the men’s and women’s tour combined, which is frantically boxed in duel two week window either side of Wimbledon.

The existing schedule of tournaments staged is dominated by outdoor and indoor hard court events, and clay court competitions. With such a focus by the gatekeepers of the sport, there is a growing number querying why grass does not feature just as keenly during the year.  

The lack of grass tournaments is somewhat a strange scenario, particularly as tennis’s roots so to speak, have largely been based on this surface. The 1920’s saw a significant shift begin as what is now recognised as the French Open, embarked on a switch and began to be played on clay. Along with the prominence of the Open Era in 1968, such movements have helped usher the differing court surfaces we have today.

But why is there a dearth of grass competitions if for so long it was the primary surface of choice? In reviewing the situation, it is easy to understand why grass court events are not plentiful. The cost of grass court maintenance is significantly higher when compared to its counterparts, and the required natural elements needed to play, are a large part of when grass tournaments can be staged.   

 

Even so, as the three main surfaces differ greatly in terms of texture and feel, a court’s facade can favour one style of tennis player to have an advantage over another player, and their natural approach. So should the tennis world continually allow grass to go overlooked?

Both the men’s and women’s tour which is administered by the ATP and WTA respectively, set aside a period which is defined and concluded by a forthcoming Grand Slam event on the diary. Based on the surface which the Grand Slam tournament is recognised for, the respective tours dedicate at least one prime event during this time, which acts as a fitting pre-cursor to the imminent Major. Wimbledon and the grass court season is the only exception. Using the men’s ATP tour as an example, the nine primary events that rank just beneath the Grand Slams, five are contested on outdoor hard, three on clay, and the remaining tournament is an indoor hard court competition. 

At present, we are in the midst of the clay court season as both the men and women players recently participated at the Madrid Open. For those wondering, Petra Kvitova took the women’s singles title in the Spanish capital, and Novak Djokovic continued his winning run in 2011 by defeating Rafael Nadal in the men’s championship. Before returning to the matter at hand, I must give a special mention to Rafael Nadal, who played one of the most astonishing shots you will ever see. If you have not seen the shot, I implore you to look it up on the vast media sources available on the internet.  

With that bit of housekeeping done, it is clear the different surfaces play an important part of the sport’s package. Grass court tournaments should be given the due time and attention that its equivalents presently hold. An equal amount of court surface events on show, would present a challenging situation for the players to adjust their play, and try to negate the demands each surface brings. Players would look to be more proficient on all of the featured surfaces, and allow a greater variation of tennis matches played whilst enhancing our public interest and the sport’s charm.