Tatjana Maria Returns as Queen’s Starts Grass Season — Where Is Queens Tennis
Where is queens tennis? In west London, and the answer matters now because Queen’s has opened the grass season less than a week after the French Open and three weeks before Wimbledon. Players who spent the previous two months on clay are already trying to adjust to a surface they will only see for little more than four weeks.
Queen’s Club And The Short Switch
Queen’s is a men’s and women’s tournament two rungs below a Grand Slam, but its place on the calendar gives it extra weight. The grass-court swing is brief, and the first matches arrive while players are still learning how the ball skids and how their bodies react to the switch from clay.
It is raining in west London during the event, adding another layer to the surface change. That is the setting for players such as Victoria Mboko, who said, “I’m not very familiar on the grass.” She added, “It’s a little bit tough changing surfaces on the body, but I like doing challenges and I like things that come new to me.”
Tatjana Maria And Amanda Anisimova
Tatjana Maria has already returned to the same skidding grass that helped her win the women’s event at Queen’s last year, when she became the champion in the modern return of the women’s tournament. She played qualifying this year and said, “One match definitely on grass and it never hurts.” She also said, “Players here at the beginning, they have not so much practice time on the grass.”
Amanda Anisimova is back as the American world No. 5 after finishing runner-up at Queen’s last year. Katie Boulter, 29 and world No. 73, is another player in the draw and described the surface as a reset point, saying, “When you go into a grass season, it takes me back to my childhood.” She added, “It takes me back to where it started. It grounds me. Being out there on the lawn playing and enjoying myself resonates with me as a child.”
Grass Season Before Wimbledon
The practical challenge is simple: players have a little more than four weeks to make the change from clay habits to grass-court patterns before Wimbledon begins. That makes every match at Queen’s part competition, part adjustment session, with the surface offering little margin for delay.
Mboko will also partner Serena Williams in doubles as the 44-year-old returns to tennis, giving the event one more reason to draw attention beyond the opening results. For the players already on court, the immediate task is to use Queen’s to get comfortable before the Wimbledon clock runs down.
