Grass is where tennis began, and it is still where the game’s widest range of players meets. In a single week of the 2026 British summer, the lawns at Roehampton staged a top-tier wheelchair tournament and an ITF junior event side by side. Across the season, players from 30 to past 90 compete on grass in ITF Masters events from Yarrawonga to Rhode Island, and in April 2027 the Masters World Championships come to the grass courts of Perth. Inclusive tennis on grass is not a footnote to the main draw. It is one of the busiest and fastest-improving parts of the game.
Our Grass Court Calendar 2026-27 lists 38 wheelchair, Masters and junior events on grass this season: four wheelchair events in the British grass swing, 29 Masters tournaments on four continents and five junior events in Australia, Britain and Poland. This page explains who plays them, how the standard is rising, and where you can play or watch in 2026-27.
Who plays on grass today
The modern grass court player might be a wheelchair professional preparing for Wimbledon, a 75-year-old chasing ranking points at an ITF Masters event in Philadelphia, a 13-year-old playing the Australian Grasscourt Championships in Shepparton, or a member of the Great Britain learning disability squad competing at the Nottingham Open. Women have played for grass court titles since the 1880s, and mixed doubles has been a championship event at Wimbledon since 1913.
Wheelchair tennis: fifty years and a rising standard
Wheelchair tennis began in 1976, when Brad Parks, a former freestyle skier, developed the game in California after a skiing accident. It was a demonstration sport at the Seoul Paralympics in 1988 and a full medal sport from Barcelona 1992; the quad division joined the Paralympic programme in 2004. The rules are those of tennis with one main change: the ball may bounce twice, and only the first bounce must land in the court.
The Australian Open was the first Grand Slam to stage competitive wheelchair events, in 2002. Wimbledon and the US Open followed in 2005 and Roland Garros in 2007. At Wimbledon the progression has been steady: men’s doubles in 2005, women’s doubles in 2009, men’s and women’s singles in 2016, when Gordon Reid won the first men’s title, and the quad division in 2019, when Dylan Alcott and Andy Lapthorne won the first quad doubles. The quad singles draw grew to eight players in 2022. Today the Championships hold 16-player singles draws for men and women, eight-team doubles draws, eight-player quad singles and four-team quad doubles.
The 2026 Championships showed how deep the field now is. Tokito Oda of Japan beat Alfie Hewett in the men’s singles final, a rematch of the 2025 final. Yui Kamiji won the women’s singles against Diede de Groot, Niels Vink beat Sam Schröder for the quad singles title, and Hewett and Reid won their seventh Wimbledon men’s doubles title together, beating Gustavo Fernández and Oda in three sets. It was the British pair’s tenth successive Wimbledon doubles final. Hewett won the Wimbledon men’s singles in 2024.
A more professional tour
Below the Grand Slams, the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour ran 183 tournaments in 40 countries in 2025. From 2026 the ITF has reorganised it into three tiers: a Premier Tier of Grand Slams, Masters and events graded 1000, 500 and 250, with enhanced prize money and standards; an International Tier for players working towards the top; and an entry-level Development Tier designed to be affordable for new players.
Britain’s grass swing reflects the change. For 2026 the LTA increased its investment in wheelchair tennis during the grass season by more than 20 per cent and its funding for disability competitions by nearly 25 per cent. The Lexus British Open at Roehampton was upgraded to an ITF WC1000 tournament, the highest level below the Grand Slams, with more prize money and better hospitality for players. Devonshire Park held a WC500 event during the Lexus Eastbourne Open. Queen’s Club staged a wheelchair exhibition with Hewett and Reid for the third year in a row, and the Nottingham Open held women’s and quad exhibitions. Two additional ITF junior wheelchair events were also added to the British calendar.
Spectators could join in too: “Get In and Go” taster sessions ran at the LTA grass events in Birmingham, Ilkley, Nottingham, Eastbourne and Roehampton, and in Trafalgar Square.
Why grass is the hardest surface to push on
Players often describe grass as the most physically demanding surface in wheelchair tennis. A soft, living surface raises rolling resistance, so every push takes more effort and turns are slower. Researchers at Loughborough University, working with the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the LTA, RGK Wheelchairs, Sheen Parasport and the UK Sports Institute, published a study in Sports Engineering in June 2026. Thicker castors and tyres reduced rolling resistance by about 8 per cent and improved rotational speed by about 3 per cent on grass. The authors recommend pre-tournament chair checks, which can prevent court damage without hurting performance, and wheelchair engineering expertise within players’ support teams.
For groundstaff the lesson runs both ways: a firm, well-rolled court is easier to push on, and a chair set up for grass protects the turf.
Masters tennis: the largest inclusive circuit on grass
Masters tennis, also called seniors or veterans tennis, is the part of the grass calendar most players will actually enter. The ITF World Tennis Masters Tour runs events in five-year age groups from 30 and over to 90 and over, in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Tournaments are graded from MT100, aimed at recreational players, to MT1000, aimed at elite players, with MT200, MT400 and MT700 events in between. In 2023 the tour set a record of 552 tournaments in 68 nations, with 42,300 players registered. That year it also welcomed Henry Young, described by the ITF as the first 100-year-old player on the tour, who competed in the 90 and over singles and doubles.
Of the 38 inclusive events in our 2026-27 calendar, 29 are Masters tournaments, from the Victorian Seniors Grasscourt Championships at Yarrawonga in November 2026 to the Women’s National Grass Court Championships for ages 30 to 90 at Rancho Mirage in September 2027.
Perth 2027: the Masters World Championships on grass
The high point of the season is in Western Australia. From 25 April to 8 May 2027, Perth hosts the ITF Masters World Team and Individual Championships for the 55, 60, 65 and 70 age groups on grass, at Royal Kings Park, Cottesloe, Alexander Park and Dalkeith lawn tennis clubs. The team event runs from 25 to 30 April and the individual championships from 1 to 8 May. It is the first Masters Worlds in Australia since 2009. The other age groups play their 2027 Worlds on clay in Portugal and Türkiye. The week before Perth, Busselton stages an MT1000 Oceania Regional Championships for ages 55 to 70, and Corinthian Park in Riverton holds an MT200 event in December 2026.
Britain and the United States
In Britain, ITF Masters events on grass run through the summer at Felixstowe, Oxford, Frinton-on-Sea, Tunbridge Wells and St George’s Hill, followed by the British Masters Grass Court Closed Championships in Wimbledon and the British Open Masters Grass Court Championships in Eastbourne in August. Wimbledon itself runs invitation doubles events, including a gentlemen’s event for players aged 35 and over and a senior gentlemen’s event for those aged 45 and over.
In the United States, the USTA’s national grass court championships for adult age groups are played as MT700 events at historic clubs: Seabright in Rumson, Agawam Hunt in East Providence, Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia and venues in Chestnut Hill, where the age groups reach 85, 90 and 95. There are also Masters events on grass in Canada, Ireland, Spain, China and New Zealand, where Te Kura Hagley Park in Christchurch ran a lawn court Masters doubles tournament in January 2026 and is expected to again in January 2027.
Juniors and the pathway to grass
Few young players grow up on grass, so the junior events that use it matter. ITF junior tournaments are graded by the ranking points awarded to the singles winner, from J30 at entry level through J60, J100, J200 and J300 to J500 and the junior Grand Slams. Wimbledon has staged boys’ and girls’ singles since 1947.
The main grass build-up to Junior Wimbledon is at Roehampton, where a J300 event runs alongside the wheelchair tournament. In 2026 the singles titles went to Janae Preston and Michael Antonius of the United States, who both went straight on to Junior Wimbledon. Earlier in June, the J30 events at Manchester and at Michałówek in Poland give younger and less experienced players a first taste of grass at international level.
Australia keeps a strong junior grass tradition in Victoria. In December 2026 the Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships (J500 on Tennis Australia’s junior calendar) are followed by the Australian Grasscourt Championships for 12 and under and 14 and under players at Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club (J1000), with a Victorian qualifying event on natural grass in November.
More than wheelchair tennis
Disability tennis covers several formats, and the British grass season now features most of them. Tennis Australia groups its inclusive play into the same five streams: wheelchair; blind and low vision; intellectual disability and autism; deaf and hard of hearing; and para standing. It held its first All Abilities Week from 20 to 26 October 2025.
- Learning disability and autism. In 2026 a Virtus-sanctioned learning disability and autism competition was staged at the Lexus Nottingham Open for the first time, giving the Great Britain LD team the chance to earn international ranking points.
- Visually impaired tennis. Blind tennis was created in Japan in 1984 by Miyoshi Takei, using a ball that makes a sound so players can track it. Players with no sight may let the ball bounce up to three times and those with very limited sight twice. The International Blind Tennis Association, formed in 2014, governs the sport. Roehampton hosted the first grass trial of visually impaired tennis in 2026.
- Deaf and hard of hearing tennis. Tennis was one of nine sports at the first Deaflympics in Paris in 1924. The game needs few adaptations; the main one is clear communication between players, coaches and officials. A deaf tennis showcase formed part of the Eastbourne community day in 2026.
- Para standing tennis. For players with physical impairments who play on their feet. Surbiton hosted an IPSTA 1000 para standing tournament from 13 to 16 June 2026 during the British grass season.
Women, girls and mixed play on grass
Women have played for championships on grass for more than 140 years. Wimbledon added the ladies’ singles in 1884, seven years after the first Championships, and both ladies’ doubles and mixed doubles became championship events in 1913. In February 2007 Wimbledon announced equal prize money for men and women, the last of the four Grand Slams to do so; that July Venus Williams beat Marion Bartoli to become the first woman to receive an equal winner’s cheque. The same lawns now host women’s wheelchair tennis, where Yui Kamiji and Britain’s Jordanne Whiley won five Wimbledon women’s doubles titles together.
On the Masters circuit, the USTA grass court championships include women’s events for ages 35 to 85 at Germantown and 30 to 90 at Rancho Mirage, and mixed doubles for ages 30 to 65 at Agawam Hunt.
Where to play and watch in 2026-27
These are the wheelchair, Masters and junior events on grass in our 2026-27 calendar, in date order. Dates marked as expected are based on the 2026 edition and will be confirmed when organisers publish them. Where a club has a profile in the Grass Court Atlas, the venue links to it.
Wheelchair and disability events
| Event | Dates | Venue | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| HSBC Championships wheelchair exhibition | June 2027 (expected, during the HSBC Championships) | The Queen’s Club, London | United Kingdom |
| Lexus Nottingham Open: wheelchair exhibitions and learning disability competition | June 2027 (expected, during the Nottingham Open) | Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre, Nottingham | United Kingdom |
| Lexus Eastbourne Open wheelchair tournament | Within 19 to 26 June 2027 | Devonshire Park, Eastbourne | United Kingdom |
| Lexus British Open Roehampton, wheelchair (WC1000 in 2026) | 25 June to 2 July 2027 | Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre, Roehampton, London | United Kingdom |
Masters and seniors events
| Event | Dates | Venue | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victorian Seniors Grasscourt Championships (MT700) | 27 to 30 November 2026 | Yarrawonga Lawn Tennis Club, Yarrawonga | Australia |
| World Tennis Masters MT200 Riverton | 18 to 21 December 2026 | Corinthian Park Tennis Club, Riverton (Perth) | Australia |
| Hagley Park Lawn Court Masters Doubles | January 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 17 to 18 January) | Te Kura Hagley Park Tennis Club, Christchurch | New Zealand |
| Geelong Tennis Classic (MT400) | March 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 20 to 23 March) | Belmont, Geelong | Australia |
| Oceania Regional Championships, ages 55 to 70 (MT1000) | 17 to 22 April 2027 | Busselton | Australia |
| ITF Masters World Team Championships, ages 55, 60, 65 and 70 | 25 to 30 April 2027 | Royal Kings Park, Cottesloe, Alexander Park and Dalkeith clubs, Perth | Australia |
| ITF Masters World Individual Championships, ages 55, 60, 65 and 70 | 1 to 8 May 2027 | Royal Kings Park, Cottesloe, Alexander Park and Dalkeith clubs, Perth | Australia |
| Barham Seniors Classic (MT200) | September 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 16 to 18 September) | Barham, New South Wales | Australia |
| Wodonga Classic (MT400) | October 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 16 to 19 October) | Wodonga | Australia |
| USTA national men’s grass court championship (MT700) | Late May 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 26 to 30 May) | Seabright Lawn Tennis and Cricket Club, Rumson, New Jersey | United States |
| MT200 Shanghai Fengxian | Late May 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 27 to 31 May) | Fengxian, Shanghai | China |
| Elm Park Masters (MT400) | Late May 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 29 May to 1 June) | Elm Park Golf and Sports Club, Donnybrook, Dublin | Ireland |
| USTA National Mixed Doubles Grass Court Championships, ages 30 to 65 (MT700) | Early June 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 2 to 7 June) | Agawam Hunt, East Providence, Rhode Island | United States |
| Felixstowe ITF Masters (MT200) | June 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 17 to 21 June) | Felixstowe Lawn Tennis Club, Felixstowe | United Kingdom |
| MT200 Oxford | June 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 22 to 27 June) | Oxford | United Kingdom |
| Frinton ITF Masters (MT400) | Late June to early July 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 29 June to 4 July) | Frinton-on-Sea Lawn Tennis Club, Frinton-on-Sea | United Kingdom |
| MT100 Ourense | July 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 15 to 19 July) | Ourense | Spain |
| Tunbridge Wells ITF Masters (MT400) | July 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 20 to 25 July) | Tunbridge Wells Lawn Tennis Club, Tunbridge Wells | United Kingdom |
| USTA National Women’s 35 to 85 Grass Court Championships (MT700) | July 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 20 to 26 July) | Germantown Cricket Club, Philadelphia | United States |
| USTA Men’s 30s and 35s National Grass Court Championships (MT700) | Early August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 1 to 4 August) | Philadelphia | United States |
| St George’s Hill International Championships (MT400) | Early August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 2 to 7 August) | St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club, Weybridge | United Kingdom |
| Vancouver Island Lawn Tennis ITF Masters (MT200) | August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 5 to 9 August) | South Cowichan Lawn Tennis Club, Cowichan Bay, British Columbia | Canada |
| British Masters Grass Court Closed Championships (MT700) | August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 9 to 16 August) | Wimbledon, London | United Kingdom |
| USTA Men’s 60s and 70s National Grass Court Championships (MT700) | August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 10 to 16 August) | Philadelphia | United States |
| USTA Men’s 65s and 75s National Grass Court Championships (MT700) | August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 17 to 23 August) | Philadelphia | United States |
| USTA Men’s 85s, 90s and 95s National Grass Court Championships (MT700) | Late August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 24 to 27 August) | Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts | United States |
| British Open Masters Grass Court Championships (MT700) | Late August 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 25 to 30 August) | Eastbourne | United Kingdom |
| USTA Men’s 50s and 55s Grass Court National Championships (MT700) | September 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 8 to 13 September) | Agawam Hunt, East Providence, Rhode Island | United States |
| USTA Women’s National Grass Court Championships, ages 30 to 90 (MT700) | September 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 21 to 28 September) | Rancho Mirage, California | United States |
Junior events
| Event | Dates | Venue | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships (J500) | 9 to 13 December 2026 | Victoria; venue to be confirmed by Tennis Victoria | Australia |
| Australian Grasscourt Championships, 12 and under and 14 and under (J1000) | 14 to 19 December 2026 | Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club, Shepparton | Australia |
| Lexus Junior International (ITF J30) | June 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 15 to 20 June) | Manchester | United Kingdom |
| Michałówek Open (ITF J30) | June 2027 (expected; 2026 edition 16 to 21 June) | Michałówek, Poland | Poland |
| Lexus British Open Roehampton, juniors | 25 June to 2 July 2027 | Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre, Roehampton, London | United Kingdom |
Full dates, entry details and links to official tournament pages for every event are in the Grass Court Calendar 2026-27.
How clubs with grass courts can help
Most of what makes a grass club welcoming costs little.
- Getting to the court. Check the route from the car park to the lawns. Firm paths, ramps instead of steps and gates wide enough for a sports chair matter more than anything on the court itself.
- Facilities. An accessible toilet and changing space, step-free access to the clubhouse and somewhere shaded to sit between matches serve wheelchair players, older members and spectators alike.
- Court preparation. Firm, even, well-rolled courts reduce rolling resistance for wheelchair players and give Masters players a truer bounce. Groundstaff can give priority to the courts nearest the clubhouse for inclusive sessions.
- Chairs and turf. Researchers recommend checking chairs before play: suitable tyres and castors help protect the court. Agree a simple chair check with players rather than ruling chairs off the grass.
- Sessions. Run regular sessions at set times and include mixed play: the two-bounce rule lets wheelchair and standing players share a court. Masters and veterans sections, junior grass days and open days all bring new players onto the lawns.
- Support. In Britain, venues that join the LTA’s Open Court programme commit to a 12-month plan of disability tennis and receive an adaptive equipment bag worth £350, start-up funding and visits from Open Court staff.
- Information. Say clearly on your website what you offer: step-free access, accessible toilets, inclusive sessions, Masters events and who to contact.
Tell us about your club
If your club runs wheelchair, disability, Masters or junior tennis on grass, or hosts one of the events above, we would like to include it in the Grass Court Atlas and the calendar. Write to info@grasstennisclub.com with your club’s name, the sessions or events you offer and a contact for players.
Sources
- IPC: Sport Week: welcome to wheelchair tennis
- Wikipedia: Wheelchair tennis (Grand Slam and Paralympic quad history)
- LTA: Wimbledon wheelchair tennis guide: history, events, rules and key players
- Wikipedia: 2022 Wimbledon Championships: wheelchair quad singles
- Wikipedia: 2026 Wimbledon Championships
- LTA: Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid win seventh doubles title
- ITF: New horizons: the 2025 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour in numbers
- ITF: 2026 Premier Tier level “a giant step forward” for wheelchair tennis
- LTA: Grass court season to spotlight wheelchair tennis as sport celebrates 50th anniversary
- LTA: LTA announces bigger and better disability tennis calendar in 2026
- Loughborough University: Research shaping the future of wheelchair tennis on grass
- Rietveld et al., Player perceptions and best practice for wheelchair tennis on grass courts, Sports Engineering, 2026
- ITF: World Tennis Masters Tour
- ITF: 2023 sees record-breaking year on the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour
- ITF: Australia, Portugal and Türkiye to host 2027 Masters World Championships
- Wikipedia: The Championships, Wimbledon (event history and invitation doubles)
- ITF: ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors adopts new grading structure for 2023
- Wikipedia: 1947 Wimbledon Championships: boys’ singles
- ITF: J300 Roehampton 2026
- LTA: Janae Preston and Michael Antonius crowned junior singles champions
- Tennis Australia: Inaugural All Abilities Week to launch in October
- USTA: United States Blind Tennis Association: history of blind tennis
- LTA: The Deaflympics and deaf tennis: a century of breaking barriers
- Tennis Majors: 22 February 2007: the day Wimbledon announced equal prize money
- Tennis.com: 2007: after fighting for pay equity at Wimbledon, Venus Williams became the first
- LTA: Open Court
- ITF World Tennis Masters Tour and Tennis Australia tournament listings for individual events, linked from the Grass Court Calendar 2026-27
