Grass (Playing Surface)

Grass is a natural playing surface of cultivated, mown turf grown from living grass over a prepared soil or sand base. In tennis it is the fastest of the traditional surfaces — the ball skids low and quickly off the smooth turf, rewarding serve-and-volley play and quick reactions, as at Wimbledon. As a football and rugby surface it is prized for its feel and traction but is vulnerable to wear, weather and heavy use.

Maintaining natural grass is demanding — mowing, watering, feeding and reseeding — and it recovers slowly from damage, which is why many venues now use hybrid pitches that stitch synthetic fibres into real turf, or move to fully artificial surfaces. "Grass" describes the material of the surface, not the venue: a grass court and a grass pitch are different venues sharing the same surface type.