The Continental Grass Season

Grass court tennis on the continent is concentrated into a few weeks each June, when the tours move from the clay of Roland Garros to the lawns that lead to Wimbledon. Germany carries most of that season. Stuttgart, Halle, Berlin and Bad Homburg each stage a tour event on grass, and between them they fill the gap between the two Grand Slams. This trail links those four venues, with an invitation only exhibition at Bonmont in Switzerland as an opening stop.

The character of the season is different from England's. Grass here is a tournament surface rather than a club tradition: Stuttgart switched its event from clay to grass in 2015, Rot-Weiss Berlin replaced the clay in its stadium with grass for 2020, and Bad Homburg built its grass courts in the Kurpark for a tournament first played in 2021. Halle is the exception, a grass event since 1993 with a 12,300 seat arena and a retractable roof. The settings range from the hillside club at Weissenhof to the spa park at Bad Homburg, where the club claims to be the first tennis club on the European mainland.

This is a spectator's trail. Most stops are tournament venues or private members' clubs whose grass is prepared for the tour event and is not available to visitors, and none of the four German venues publishes a way for visitors to book their grass. Bonmont's exhibition is attended by invitation only. Players who want to hit on grass themselves should look to the English trails, or ask a club in advance through a member or their own club.

Use the trail as a menu. A full run follows the calendar from Bonmont and Stuttgart in the first week to Bad Homburg in the week before Wimbledon, but Halle and Berlin fall in the same week, so most visitors will pick one or split the week between them. Buy tickets early for the weekends, check each tournament's own site for the year's dates, and book accommodation near the venues well ahead.