Lorenzo Musetti is one of the most natural touch players on grass, a Wimbledon semi-finalist whose slice and variety suit the surface, but injury kept him off the lawns entirely in 2026. He finished the season 31st in the men’s GTC Grass Rankings with a rating of 92, down from 25th.
Grass at a glance
- GTC Grass Rating: 92, 31st in the men’s rankings (25th before the season)
- Pillars: Lawn Form 26, Arsenal 55, Wimbledon 43, Nerve 47
- Nationality: Italy
- Best Wimbledon result: Semi-final (2024)
- Grass titles: None yet (Queen’s runner-up 2024)
- Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
How Lorenzo plays on grass
Musetti’s one-handed backhand is the centre of his grass game. He can drive it, but more often he uses the slice, which stays very low on turf and forces opponents to lift the ball. Add a soft hand at the net, good drop shots and an instinct for changing pace, and he has more ways to disrupt a rhythm player than almost anyone in the top 20.
The weaknesses are serve and return position. His first serve is reliable but not heavy, so he wins fewer cheap points than the bigger men, and he tends to return from well behind the baseline, which gives fast servers extra time. On days when the slice sits up or his first serve percentage drops, opponents can attack his backhand side with pace. That balance of craft and exposure explains an Arsenal pillar of 55. His Nerve score of 47 reflects a mixed record in tight matches: he won close contests on the way to the 2024 semi-finals but has also lost early when favoured.
Grass record
Musetti lost in the first round of Wimbledon in 2021 and 2022. His grass game took shape in 2023, when he reached quarter-finals in Stuttgart and at Queen’s and the third round at Wimbledon, where Hubert Hurkacz beat him. The 2024 season was his best: he reached the Queen’s final, losing to Tommy Paul, and then the Wimbledon semi-finals, beating Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals before losing to Novak Djokovic. As seventh seed in 2025 he fell in the first round to the qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in four sets.
The 2026 grass season
There was no grass season for Musetti in 2026. His year had already been disrupted when he retired injured from his Australian Open quarter-final against Djokovic while two sets up. He then hurt the rectus femoris muscle in his thigh at the Italian Open in Rome in mid-May, where his last match was a fourth-round defeat to Casper Ruud. He missed Roland Garros, did not play the grass lead-in events, and on 17 June withdrew from Wimbledon, saying he had not yet started full athletic training. Matteo Berrettini took his place in the draw.
His rating sat at 99 through the early weeks and fell to 92 after Wimbledon, a grass season with no matches played.
Looking ahead to 2027
For 2027 the first target is simply a fit, uninterrupted grass swing. His style needs matches on the surface to sharpen timing on the slice and the return, so a lead-in event such as Queen’s, where he has reached a final, would be valuable before Wimbledon. With his Lawn Form pillar at 26, there is a lot of rating to recover quickly if he plays. A realistic target is the second week at Wimbledon, which would restore him to around his 2025 GTC level; a return to the semi-finals would need his serve to hold up over five sets. Compare the profile of fellow Italian Jannik Sinner for the different route to grass success.
