Grass is the fastest and least predictable surface in professional tennis. The way the ball behaves on it changes which skills decide matches.
The bounce is low and the ball skids
Grass has little grip, so a ball arrives at the baseline having lost less forward speed than it would on clay. The bounce stays low and comes through quickly.
That compresses the time a returner has to prepare. Shots that would be comfortable elsewhere have to be taken earlier and with a shorter swing.
Slice becomes unusually effective because a low ball on a low-bouncing surface can stay beneath comfortable hitting height entirely, forcing an opponent to lift from below the net.
Serving carries more of the match
A serve that skids gives the returner less time and less bounce to work with, so a high proportion of points end within the first few shots.
The practical result is that breaks of serve are scarce, and matches turn on a small number of points rather than on sustained baseline pressure.
Players who hold comfortably can compete with better all-court opponents on grass in a way they cannot on slower surfaces where rallies expose them.
Footing changes movement patterns
Grass does not permit the controlled slide that clay allows, so players must decelerate with small adjusting steps rather than sliding into position.
Movement is therefore more upright and more forward. Recovery to the centre is quicker, but changing direction under load is riskier because the foot can slip.
This is one reason grass seasons are short and injury-conscious players approach them carefully, particularly after a run of matches on clay.
The surface changes during the tournament
Grass wears. Baseline areas and the region around the service line lose grass over a fortnight, exposing soil that plays differently from the intact surface around it.
Late in a tournament the bounce becomes more variable, and the worn patches can produce sudden low skids that punish players standing deep.
Court preparation slows this but cannot stop it, which means a semi-final is played on a materially different surface from a first-round match.
Net play returns as a viable tactic
Because the bounce is low and rallies are short, approaching the net is less exposed on grass than elsewhere. A passing shot has to be hit from below net height more often.
Volleying still requires the skill to be there, and a generation trained largely on hard courts has less of it than earlier eras did.
What survives is selective forward movement rather than the constant serve-and-volley pattern of the past, used to shorten points rather than to define a style.
