Analysis
What we learnt from the 2025 grass court season
The 2025 grass court season has come to a close – and what a few months it’s been. This year we’ve seen a bit of everything – from familiar favourites lifting titles to new players on the block ready to announce themselves on the world stage – it’s been non-stop excitement and drama from start to finish.
Here we breakdown six things we learnt over another action-packed summer on the grass:
Grass is the great equaliser in tennis
With limited time between Roland Garros and the beginning of the grass court season and then straight into Wimbledon, players often don’t play many tournaments before heading to SW19.
The transition from clay to grass is a tricky one, the movement is different, the ball bounces much lower, and the most effective tactics vary a lot.
This year in particular this seemed to make a big difference, especially at Wimbledon. Through the opening two rounds there were a record 36 seeded players in the men’s and women’s singles who bowed out early – including the likes of French Open champion Coco Gauff and world No.3 Alexander Zverev.
This was great news for the Brits, with 10 singles players reaching the second round for the first time since 1976 – with Sonay Kartal beating 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko, Katie Boulter defeating ninth seed Paula Badosa and Cam Norrie knocking out world No.13 Frances Tiafoe.
Away from The Championships, take the HSBC Championships as another example, where 37-year-old German qualifier Tatjana Maria defeated four top 20 players to win the biggest title of her career.
The levelled out playing field created some of the most open tournaments in years with incredible storylines everywhere you looked.
Cash and Glasspool the new dominant force in men’s doubles
Since joining forces during the Asian swing at the back end of last year, Britain’s Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool have seemed to click perfectly as a team.
Coming into the grass court season the duo had already ascended the rankings with two titles wins in Brisbane and Doha, as well as reaching their first ATP Masters 1000 final together in Miami – but very few people would have predicted the level of dominance they’ve shown on the grass.
The Brits played four tournaments on the grass this year and made finals in all four – including a first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.
After a runner-up finish in Stuttgart, the duo went on to clinch the HSBC Championships and Lexus Eastbourne Open titles before turning their attention to Wimbledon where they went on to claim their first Grand Slam title.
Their final victory over Rinky Hijikata and David Pel not only marked a significant milestone in their partnership but also saw them become the first all-British duo to lift the men’s doubles title at Wimbledon since 1936.
Cash and Glasspool wrapped up a truly dominant grass court season with a 17-1 win record and three trophies to their names.
New Brits on the block
The grass court season is always a great opportunity for fans to see the up-and-coming British stars who could be set to make their marks on tour.
Starting with the men’s game – 22-year-old Jack Pinnington Jones made a name for himself this summer with a run to the final of the Lexus Ilkley Open (his first ATP Challenger final) and a maiden Grand Slam singles victory at Wimbledon.
Pinnington Jones is now set to go on the tour full-time after a few years competing in the NCAA college system for Texas Christian University, where Norrie and Jacob Fearnley also attended.
On the women’s side, British teenagers Mimi Xu, Hannah Klugman and Mika Stojsavljevic all made their Wimbledon debuts as wild cards. All around a similar age, Stojsavljevic is the reigning junior US Open champion, Klugman recently made the final at Roland Garros, but it was Xu who starred on the grass this year.
Xu reached her first WTA 125 quarter-final with a maiden top 100 win, her first WTA Tour win in Nottingham and made the semi-final in the girls’ singles draw at Wimbledon.
In the wheelchair game, 23-year-old Greg Slade showed his quality on the grass courts. Slade not only got his first Grand Slam and biggest win of his career against world No.6 Francisco Cayulef and made the final of the quad doubles with Donald Ramphadi where they finished runners-up
Norrie and Kartal rise to the big occasion
Wimbledon this year was all about the British No.3s, with Norrie and Kartal picking up the best results in the singles.
2022 semi-finalist Norrie came through against Roberto Bautista Agut, Tiafoe, Mattia Bellucci and survived a five-set battle with Nicolas Jarry to reach his second Grand Slam quarter-final – eventually losing out to two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.
It’s a welcome return to form for the British star who has saved his best tennis for the biggest events this year – also making a fourth round at Roland Garros.
Meanwhile, Kartal reached the fourth round for the first time in her career – improving on her run from qualifying to the third round in 2024.
Kartal came from a set down to knock out Ostapenko and stormed past Viktoriya Tomova and Diane Parry. The result has seen her reach a new career-high at world No.44.
Sinner takes Alcaraz rivalry to a new level
Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz have established themselves as the outstanding duo in the men’s game right now, with a rivalry that always produces fireworks every time they meet.
Coming into Wimbledon, the momentum seemed to be on the Spaniard’s side after an epic French Open final win and taking home the title at the HSBC Championships.
It was only fitting that both players would manage to battle their way to the final for a rematch of their Roland Garros final just weeks ago, and this time Sinner exacted his revenge.
Facing an opponent who had lost just one match on grass in three years coming into the event, Sinner put in an absolute masterclass to defeat his biggest rival 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win his first Wimbledon title.
Sinner showed that he has the game to dominate on the grass and could spell a turn in the tide in their already legendary matchup. Alcaraz now leads their Grand Slam head-to-head 3-2.
One thing’s for sure; the tennis world is already looking forward to their next battle.
Rising stars come to the fore
The story of the Lexus Eastbourne Open this year was two of the rising stars in the women’s game right now, battling it out for their first grass court title.
In what was one of the matches of the summer, 19-year-old Maya Joint of Australian saved four championship points against 21-year-old Alexandra Eala of the Philippines to win 4-6, 6-1 7-6(10).
Both players showed exactly why they are two of the biggest prospects on the WTA Tour at the moment – marking a second tour-level title for Joint this year and for Eala, it backed up a breakthrough semi-final appearance in Miami.
This was the youngest Eastbourne final since 1981 where an 18-year-old Tracy Austin beat 16-year-old Andrea Jaeger.