Five storylines to watch out for at the 2026 Lexus Birmingham Open

Harriet Dart returns to home soil

Harriet Dart is the first British name confirmed for the women’s WTA 125 singles event in Birmingham this year.

The former world No.70 has been a regular feature across the LTA grass court season in recent years and has recorded some of the best results of her career on the surface.

Dart has previously reached five WTA quarter-finals on home soil at the Lexus Eastbourne Open (2022 & 2024), Lexus Nottingham Open (2022 & 2023), and of course, the Lexus Birmingham Open (2023).

The Brit has been in promising form of late as she continues to climb back up the WTA rankings. She won the W75 Toronto at the end of 2025, and reached finals of the W100 Fujairah and W75 Porto this year.

Most notably, she also led the Lexus Great Britain Billie Jean King Cup team to an historic away win over Australia in April.

With the momentum building behind her and getting back on her favourite surface, watch out for Dart in the first event of the grass court season.

Strong British challenge in men’s draw

Staying with the Brits – the men’s singles draw features two of Britain's rising stars on the ATP Tour.

Jacob Fearnley became a well-known name amongst British fans after a title run at the Lexus Nottingham Open spurred him on to break into the top 100 and win on debut at each of the four Grand Slams.

Fearnley will be looking to rediscover his spark on the grass and with a solid history on the surface, could be one of the main challengers in Birmingham.

Jack Pinnington Jones is another British player set for the Edgbaston Priory Club this year. In 2025, he made the final of the Lexus Ilkley Open, won on his Wimbledon debut and lifted the Lexus Nottingham Challenger title at the end of the summer.

Keep an eye on the wild cards and qualifying for the men's draw this year with Great Britain currently boasting 14 players in the ATP top-250.

Eala-mania starts on the grass

Since breaking through on the WTA Tour at the 2025 Miami Open, Eala-mania has spread like wildfire and the Filipina has quickly become one of the most popular players in the game.

At every tournament she plays at, the Philippines community come out in their droves to show their support for the 20-year-old star.

Last year, Eala showed just what she’s capable of on the grass, with the best run of her career at the WTA 250 Lexus Eastbourne Open.

The young rising star came through qualifying to reach her first WTA final, before losing in a final set tie-break against Australian Maya Joint.

Eala will no doubt be spurred on by her success from last year and solid results to start the 2026 campaign. She comes in as one of the tournament favourites and her fans will no doubt bring the noise to the Edgbaston Priory Club this year.

Next generation take centre stage

The Lexus Birmingham Open will boast some of the most exciting up-and-coming names in the game right now.

Aside from the next generation of British stars, there are several other young talents looking to make their mark on the grass.

Australian Talia Gibson has had an electric start to 2026, with a quarter-final run at Indian Wells and fourth round in Miami – catapulting her up the WTA rankings.

Janice Tjen is the top seed on the women’s draw. At 24, the Indonesian is playing some of the best tennis of her young career so far, finishing last year with her first WTA title in Chennai.

Eliot Spizzirri, Coleman Wong and Nicolai Budkov Kjaer are rising stars on the men’s side that could make a push for titles this summer.

NCAA graduate Spizzirri made his top 100 debut last year and has gone from strength-to-strength, making the third round of the Australian Open this year, including a win over Joao Fonseca.

Wong became the first player from Hong Kong to win a Grand Slam match in a third round run at the US Open and won his first Challenger title in Jiujiang this year.

Finally, former junior world No.1 Kjaer has pedigree on the grass having won 2024 Wimbledon boys’ singles. The 19-year-old has four Challenger trophies and recently made the third round of the Madrid Open ATP Masters 1000 event.

Which players will master the clay to grass court transition

The Lexus Birmingham Open comes at an interesting point in the tennis calendar.

It marks the first week of grass court competition with many players coming straight off the clay at Roland Garros to take part.

Any player will tell you that the transition from the slow, high bounce and sliding on clay is very different to the fast, low and unpredictable grass - and it can take a while to adapt.

Usually the players who have had extra time to adapt to the grass have a big advantage through the first few weeks of tournaments and we’re likely to see that again in Birmingham.

With the facilities available to the Brits at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and longer training schedules on the grass, could be a crucial factor when Birmingham comes around?