Karen Khachanov is a big-serving baseliner who has turned grass into a reliable source of deep runs, with Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2021 and 2025. His 2026 swing was short and ended with a five-set loss from a winning position, and he finished 22nd in the GTC Grass Rankings on a GTC Grass Rating of 104.
Grass at a glance
- GTC Grass Rating: 104, 22nd in the men’s rankings (14th before the season, on 106)
- Pillars: Lawn Form 52, Arsenal 70, Wimbledon 50, Nerve 46
- Nationality: Russia
- Best Wimbledon result: Quarter-final (2021, 2025)
- Grass titles: None yet
- Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
How Karen plays on grass
Khachanov is built for first-strike tennis. He is tall, the first serve is heavy and accurate enough to win a large share of free points, and the forehand is a flat, hard shot that he uses to take control on the first ball after serve. When he is holding comfortably, he can lean on the return in one or two games a set and play the rest of the match from in front. That is the base of his Arsenal score of 70.
The rest of the toolkit is less natural on grass. He slices only occasionally, does not come forward often and is more comfortable a metre behind the baseline than inside it. Low, skidding balls to the backhand and changes of pace make him bend and adjust, and his movement to the wide forehand can be slow on the first step.
The Nerve figure of 46 is the weak point. His grass losses tend to come in long matches where he has led, and his 2026 Wimbledon exit followed that pattern.
Grass record
Khachanov has been a steady Wimbledon performer whenever he has been able to play. He reached the third round in 2017, the fourth round in 2018 and the third round in 2019, then made the quarter-finals in 2021, where Denis Shapovalov beat him 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 (Shapovalov’s score) after Khachanov had led two sets to one. He missed 2022 when Russian players were banned and 2023 with a stress fracture, lost in the second round in 2024, and returned to the quarter-finals in 2025, where Taylor Fritz beat him in four sets.
Halle has been his best warm-up. He reached the semi-finals in 2017 and again in 2025, when he beat Zizou Bergs, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the last 6-3, 6-2, before losing to Alexander Bublik. He has not yet reached a grass final.
The 2026 grass season
Khachanov played only two events. In Halle he took the first set 6-1 against Ethan Quinn and then lost 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. At Wimbledon he beat Billy Harris 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round, where he met ninth seed Flavio Cobolli. He won the first set 6-0 and led two sets to one after taking the third on a tie-break, but Cobolli won the last two sets 6-2, 6-2. With a 2025 quarter-final dropping off and nothing gained in the warm-ups, his rating moved from 106 to 104 and he fell eight places.
Looking ahead to 2027
The schedule is likely to include Halle again, where his record is strongest, and possibly a second warm-up event to bring more matches into Wimbledon. The technical gap is the same one that showed against Cobolli: he needs to protect a lead when his first-serve percentage drops, either with more variety on second serves or by shortening rallies with earlier approaches. A realistic target is a third Wimbledon quarter-final and a first grass final, which would bring him back into the top 15 on a rating close to 108.
