Grass has long been the main court type, with three out of four Grand Slam tournaments and about half of all ATP and WTA competitions held on it. Now it only has five weeks a year, two of which are at Wimbledon. The short amount of time spent on grass during the season can be explained by the difficulty of court preparation, abundance of important details, and the need to maintenance the surface daily. There's also been talk that grass may be phased out altogether as an official tournament surface, but the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club where Wimbledon is held every year, has made it one of its goals to preserve the surface in light of its historical significance for the game.
As part of this goal, the surface was changed in 2001 to use a different type of grass grown specifically for Wimbledon. Red fescue, traditionally used since 1877, was replaced by a blend of three different cultivars, in order to reduce the number of bad bounces thanks to its improved durability compared to its predecessor. Note that it takes about 15 months to prepare a grass court up to Wimbledon standards. In other words, the grass that will be used at the tournament next year has already been sown even before we know the 2025 champions. But what does this year-long preparation involve?
In April, the courts are sown with nine tons of seed. The first shoots sprout after 10 days, as at this time of year the soil is quite warm and moist. When the grass reaches 15 mm, it is mown for the first time. In May, mowing takes place on a regular basis three times a week, with the height of the lawn reduced by one millimetre per week.
To make the soil more compact, a one-ton roller is passed over the courts once a week in May, and watering is reduced in June. In September, each court is cut entirely and six tons of soil are added to ensure the courts are level for the following year's tournament. About a month before Wimbledon, agronomists work to achieve the ideal grass height for the tournament: 8 millimetres. They cut it daily during the tournament as well.
There's even an experimental grass at the Sports Turf Research Institute in Yorkshire where Wimbledon turf specifications are tested. Special devices simulate the movements of tennis players, namely the sharp braking movements typical of the game. During the tournament, specialists measure the nitrogen level in the soil every day. Grass can get slippery if there's too much of it, so it's usually reduced by adding iron. Humidity is another important factor that affects grass. In this regard, the Centre Court with a retractable roof also has four air conditioners that remove excess moisture before it settles on the surface. As soon as the first drops of rain fall, matches are stopped immediately, in order to prevent risk of injury.
One of the symbols of Wimbledon, Rufus the Hawk, also plays a big role in maintaining ideal lawn condition. For two decades now, he has been on the courts like clockwork at around 6:00 a.m. every game day. The menacing aura of the "real hawk-eye" as he's often called in reference to Hawk-Eye technology, scares away pigeons who forget all about Wimbledon if they don't want to become his next victim. Rufus is given a certain amount of freedom, and he can easily spend the night in the woods nearby and be found the next morning by the GPS sensor attached to his leg. In 2012, a thief stole the box with Rufus from a car, but after discovering he didn't have any real value (although it really depends how you look at it), he released the bird into the wild, and three days later the bird returned to its home on the main courts of London.
The combination of factors and techniques described above makes Wimbledon grass truly unique. But like any living organism, it's subject to the influence of external conditions.
Due to abnormal heat during the tournament, the court may wear out faster and become unsuitable to play on, or be too slippery in cold weather or if the temperature in the spring preceding the tournament was colder than normal and the sun wasn't a frequent guest. Tennis player falls were especially common at Wimbledon 2021, when after the COVID-19 shutdown players had to get used to the rare surface again for the first time in two years. It remains to be seen who will play on it best now. Wimbledon 2025 starts on Monday, 30 June.
