Wimbledon takes No. 1, Switzerland’s Bonmont emerges at No. 2, Newport is third and Queen’s Club fifth in a new global editorial ranking focused not on prestige alone, but on who is helping grass tennis thrive.

10 September 2026 Grass Tennis Club has launched the inaugural GTC Innovation & Stewardship Top 50, a new global editorial ranking recognising the clubs and venues doing the most to preserve, develop and advance natural-grass tennis.

The GTC Innovation & Stewardship Top 50 was created to recognise that work.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon takes the inaugural No. 1 position, followed by Bonmont in Switzerland at No. 2 and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, at No. 3. Mallorca Country Club is fourth and The Queen’s Club in London fifth.

The ranking deliberately moves away from the conventional question of which grass-court clubs are the oldest, grandest or most prestigious.

Instead, Grass Tennis Club asks: who is doing the most to secure and advance the future of natural-grass tennis?

Why grass tennis needs a different kind of ranking

Natural-grass tennis occupies an unusual position in world sport. It is home to Wimbledon and some of tennis’s most enduring traditions, yet the modern professional grass season is short and maintaining a natural playing surface requires specialist knowledge, continuing investment and institutional commitment.

At the same time, the map of grass tennis is changing.

New grass projects have appeared outside the traditional centres of Britain, Australia and the United States. Established clubs are expanding their programmes. Professional events in Germany, Spain and Switzerland are giving the surface new platforms, while community clubs continue to maintain remarkable areas of natural turf for everyday players.

The GTC Innovation & Stewardship Top 50 was created to recognise that work.

Five drivers of grass-tennis leadership

Commitment & Stewardship: 25%

Investment in retaining, restoring or creating natural-grass courts; sustained maintenance; specialist care and a demonstrated commitment to keeping the surface in active use.

Innovation & Leadership: 25%

New projects, new markets, technical and operational innovation, knowledge sharing and initiatives capable of moving the wider grass-tennis community forward.

Grass-Court Quality & Agronomy: 20%

The quality and consistency of the playing surface, specialist preparation and evidence of modern, sustainable grass-court management.

Programming, Profile & Participation: 20%

Events, coaching, playing access, player development and the ability to bring players, audiences and attention to grass tennis.

Grass-Tennis Culture & Experience: 10%

The atmosphere, hospitality, traditions and experiences that make grass tennis distinctive and help attract people to the game.

The percentages express Grass Tennis Club’s editorial priorities. They do not operate as a mechanical formula producing a decimal score or automatically determining a club’s finishing position.

The GTC Top 50 is a Grass Tennis Club editorial ranking. Published evidence supports the factual commentary around each club; the final order represents Grass Tennis Club’s judgement.

Wimbledon No. 1: leadership beyond Centre Court

Putting Wimbledon first may appear predictable, but GTC’s reasoning goes beyond the fame of The Championships.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club remains the technical and cultural reference point for natural-grass tennis. Its research, surface specification and grounds-management expertise have influenced the way tournament-quality grass is prepared far beyond SW19.

Crucially for this ranking, other clubs have learned lessons from that expertise.

The AELTC supported the development of grass courts at Bad Homburg in Germany. What began as a new grass-tennis project subsequently became an established part of the professional season, with the Bad Homburg Open now operating at WTA 500 level immediately before Wimbledon.

For GTC, this represents leadership in its strongest form: not simply maintaining the world’s most famous grass courts, but helping grass-tennis expertise develop elsewhere.

Bonmont at No. 2: creating a new place for grass tennis

The most remarkable position in the inaugural ranking is likely to be Bonmont at No. 2.

Bonmont grass tennis ranking is not in place because of the historical pedigree of Wimbledon or Queen’s. Neither does it point to generations of grass-court competition.

In just three years, Bonmont has created a natural-grass tennis platform in Switzerland and developed the Bonmont Tennis Masters around the pre-Wimbledon period. Its 2026 programme combined professional grass-court matches with training, pro-am tennis, junior involvement, player interaction and an extensive hospitality programme.

The significance, in GTC’s view, is larger than the construction of a single court.

Bonmont has used that court to attract professional players, partners, guests, media attention and international interest to grass tennis in a market where the surface previously had little visibility.

Bonmont has not inherited its place in grass tennis. It has created one.

That is why GTC assesses Bonmont as Exceptional for Commitment & Stewardship and Innovation & Leadership, with Leading assessments for Grass-Court Quality & Agronomy, Programming, Profile & Participation, and Grass-Tennis Culture & Experience.

These are qualitative editorial assessments the Grass Tennis Club team based on research, discussions with grass tennis experts, players and visits to grass tennis tournaments in the past years. Although the playing surface has received. many plaudits, Grass Tennis Club has not independently measured the court’s surface.

Why Bonmont is above Queen’s Club

The comparison between Bonmont at No. 2 and Queen’s at No. 5 helps explain the purpose of the ranking.

Queen’s remains one of the great institutions of lawn tennis. Importantly, it is also still developing.

Women’s professional tennis returned to Queen’s in 2025 after more than half a century, creating a WTA 500 week alongside the established ATP 500 event and giving the club a new two-week professional grass programme.

That achievement is strongly rewarded. Queen’s receives some of the highest qualitative assessments in the ranking for grass-court quality, programming and grass-tennis culture.

But Bonmont receives additional recognition under this particular ranking for accomplishing something fundamentally different.

Queen’s is renewing and extending an extraordinary grass-tennis inheritance. Bonmont is building a new one.

Under a future all-time ranking based heavily on history, institutional significance and tournament legacy, the comparison could look very different. Innovation & Stewardship covers active contribution to the future of the grass surface.

Newport demonstrates that heritage can remain playable

The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport takes third place.

Its importance is not simply historical. The venue demonstrates that grass-tennis heritage can remain part of a living playing culture.

The Hall of Fame Tennis Club offers seasonal opportunities for players to reserve its natural-grass courts, subject to availability, weather and club conditions.

The surprise at No. 11: Swan Hill and 51 grass courts

One of the most striking discoveries in the Top 50 appears just outside the Top 10.

Swan Hill Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in regional Victoria ranks No. 11 overall and No. 1 among the Australian selections.

Its official Tennis Australia listing records an extraordinary 51 permanent grass courts in one complex, alongside four hard courts.

Swan Hill is important because it challenges the assumption that the future of natural-grass tennis belongs only to Grand Slam venues, elite private clubs or ambitious new developments.

Grass tennis can also survive at community scale.

An All-Time Grass Club ranking will follow

Grass Tennis Club is separately developing an All-Time Club Greats ranking.

That list will answer a different question, giving much greater weight to historical significance, institutional standing, tournament legacy, continuity and contribution over generations.

GTC has chosen to place that project on hold while it develops a club evidence programme.

Grass-court clubs will be invited to provide information about their natural-grass provision, maintenance practices, history, programmes, preservation work and contribution to the wider game.

The evidence will strengthen GTC’s research and help refine the methodology. It will not turn the all-time ranking into a public vote. Final positions will remain editorial judgements.

About the GTC Innovation & Stewardship Top 50

The GTC Innovation & Stewardship Top 50 is an independent editorial ranking produced by Grass Tennis Club.

It is not an ATP, WTA or governing-body ranking, a public vote, a commercial valuation or an independent technical inspection of every grass court included.

Explore the full GTC Innovation & Stewardship Top 50 through the Grass Tennis Club Rankings section.

Editorial disclosure

Grass Tennis Club’s previously published methodology records that Founding Editor Paul Reardon advised on the construction of Bonmont’s grass court and that members of the GTC advisory network were also involved in the project. GTC discloses this relationship alongside Bonmont’s editorial ranking.

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© 2026 Grass Tennis Club / Dagda Media Ltd.