Tommy Paul Calls for Longer Grass Swing and a Long-Awaited Masters 1000 Event on the Surface

The grass swing began in the second week of June and will end on the 12th of July, which means it lasts only five weeks, with a maximum of four tournaments that a single player can play. This has led American star Tommy Paul to call for more grass tournaments and a Masters 1000 event on the surface.

The grass-court season remains the shortest in the tennis calendar, with the Wimbledon Championship being the only big event in that swing. Most top players play only one tournament before the Grand Slam, as they try not to overwork themselves after a grueling clay season.

Also, the grass court is a very mixed surface for many players on tour. Some of the best women players find it hard to win the Wimbledon Championships because there’s not much time to get used to the conditions of the court, and some players often prefer to get through it quickly and focus on a return to hard court action in North America.

The Queen’s Club Championships and Terra Wortmann Open are the ATP 500 tournaments on the men’s circuit. The women’s circuit has the Queen’s Championships, Berlin Tennis Open, and Bad Homburg Open as the WTA 500 events. There’s no 1000-level tournament on grass due to the short season.

Paul is currently at the Queen’s Championships and has enjoyed playing on grass, particularly winning the tournament in 2024. He’s looking to continue rising up the rankings with good runs on the surface. He believes that the grass-court season needs to be extended beyond just five weeks, and a Masters 1000 tournament should be added to the swing:

Yeah, absolutely. We talk about that all the time. I think so, for sure. That would be great. I mean, it’s the only surface that we don’t have a Masters 1000 on. It is tough, obviously with the schedule. We complain about too many tournaments, but then here I am asking for a Masters 1000 on grass. But I don’t see why we don’t. I think it [grass court tennis] is kind of how the tennis started. It’s the tradition in tennis.

Paul is not the only player to have advocated for more grass tournaments in the tennis schedule. Andrey Rublev and Felix Auger-Aliassime have previously highlighted that the shortness of the grass-court season doesn’t give players enough time to smoothly transition from clay to grass ahead of Wimbledon.

Tommy Paul explains why he feels comfortable playing on grass

Tommy Paul is unbeaten at the Queen’s Club Championships in the last seven matches, as he didn’t feature at the event last year due to injury. He won the championship in 2024, and he’s into the quarter-finals of this year’s edition following his win over Dutch star Botic van de Zandschulp. He’s seeking to win the title again as last year’s champion Carlos Alcaraz continues his recovery from injury.

The American star is one of the experienced grass-court players at the tournament and has been effective on the surface due to the fast nature of the court at Queen’s. During the aforementioned press conference, he revealed why he feels comfortable playing on grass:

When a lot of players think about Queen’s, they think about a traditional grass court. Much faster, maybe more slippery. I think the fact that I’m pretty comfortable moving on the surface allows me to go after something that maybe some people would be a little bit uncomfortable going after, or running down a ball and staying on my feet rather than falling. I think that helps.

Paul will face Spanish star Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for a place in the semi-finals of the Queen’s Club Championships. Should the American star win the match, he’s likely to face Australia’s Alex de Minaur, who is the highest-ranked player left in the draw.

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