Grass Season Has Started in Tennis: The Road Leads to Wimbledon

The opening week of the grass season opens its curtains simultaneously in three different cities on Monday, June 8. On the ATP Tour, the BOSS Open (ATP 250) held at the Tennis Club Weissenhof facilities in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Libéma Open (ATP 250) in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, have taken the start; both tournaments stand out as the first stop for players who want to gain grass court experience before Wimbledon. On the WTA Tour, the historic Queen's Club in London is hosting the HSBC Championships organisation. All three tournaments will continue between June 8-15; players will compete with their opponents and with the unique challenges of the grass surface, which has very different dynamics from clay. Grass courts constitute the most advantageous period of the season especially for players with strong serves due to carrying the ball fast, keeping the bounces low, and bringing the service advantage to the foreground.

The pace rises significantly in the second week. The week starting on June 15 will see two prestigious tournaments in the ATP 500 category take the stage: HALLE OPEN held in Halle, Germany, and QUEEN'S CHAMPIONSHIPS held at the Queen's Club facilities in London. These two tournaments are known as the highest-scoring grass court organisations before Wimbledon and it will be possible to see the vast majority of players at the top of the world rankings on the court. In previous years, Queen's has been at the top of tournaments that lead to Wimbledon champions; the 2026 season has an impressive participant list that will continue this tradition.

The third and final week rehearsal of the grass season will be made with the ATP 250 tournaments that will start on June 22. The Mallorca Championships on the Spanish island of Mallorca and the Lexus Eastbourne Open in Eastbourne, England, are organisations on the calendar where players will make their final adjustments on court hours before Wimbledon. On the WTA Tour, courts like Eastbourne and Berlin will also be frequently on the agenda this week. Players who manage to recover on grass court from the opening week of the season will be able to grab the chance to be in the top places in the Wimbledon draws.

The peak of the grass season will undoubtedly be the 139th Wimbledon Championships that will start on Monday, June 29. The tournament hosted by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will continue until July 12; the finals will be played on Centre Court on July 11 Saturday (women's singles) and July 12 Sunday (men's singles). The club, founded in 1868 and hosting the tennis tournament since 1877, carries the feature of being the oldest Grand Slam organisation in world tennis. The most well-known traditions of Wimbledon, the dress code requires players to wear all white from head to toe; strawberries and cream is also an iconic gastronomy tradition identified with the tournament. The ball sponsorship that Slazenger has been maintaining since 1902 also maintains the feature of being the longest-running sponsorship agreement in the sports world. In 2025 Wimbledon, the men's singles champion was Jannik Sinner and the women's singles champion was Iga Świątek; whether these two names will be able to keep their titles in the 2026 edition is at the top of this year's discussions.

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