Wimbledon is one of the biggest annual sporting events in the world, with Centre Court welcoming some high profile guests in the Royal Box.

One of those invited into the Royal Box was former world number one Andy Roddick, who watched Jannik Sinner’s victory over Pedro Martinez.

Centre Court has hosted some iconic matches over the years, including the 2008 Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

However, some tennis fans have noticed something different about the courts at Wimbledon this year and they are not happy about it.

Day Eight: The Championships - Wimbledon 2025Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty ImagesTennis fans ‘hate’ what has happened to the courts at Wimbledon this year

There are a number of things that Wimbledon has received criticism for this year, including scheduling.

However, tennis fans have also criticised the courts at Wimbledon after suggesting that something has changed.

The general argument from these social media users is that the courts at Wimbledon are now slower, claiming that it no longer feels like grass court tennis.

One wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Watching Wimbledon and it’s not even grass tennis anymore.. it’s so far gone, like how can we even try and compare past greats who won Wimbledon when it’s just not even remotely the same surface anymore? I hate what they’ve done to the best surface in the world..”

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Someone wrote in response, “This is the first year I’ve actually been p—– off with the Wimbledon courts. Feel like they are significantly slower than usual. This is really bad. Every match I’ve watched just doesn’t seem like grass besides the low balls.. seems like a mix of clay and hard. Not ideal.”

Another person claimed that Wimbledon’s courts have not been like this for a lot longer than just this year and compared them to more like green clay.

“Been saying it’s been green clay for 20+ years. The last real grass Wimbledon was 2001.”

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An additional person added, “I supported the decision to change the grass back in 2002, but now they keep making these grass courts slower and slower, which is ridiculous.”

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This echoes the sentiment of the 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic, who believes courts at Wimbledon are much slower than when he won his only Grand Slam singles title.

How has Wimbledon changed their courts?

The most public and significant change at Wimbledon came after Ivanisevic won the Wimbledon title in 2001.

Wimbledon changed their courts from a mixture of two grasses to exclusively ryegrass, which was not meant to slow down the courts.

In fact the transition to using 100% ryegrass was actually supposed to make the grass more durable in response to the more intense and athletic competition.

However, the head groundskeeper at the time Eddie Seaward acknowledged in an interview with the New York Times in 2010 that it may have caused the ball to bounce higher.

While the courts may be slower, Djokovic has pointed out how much tennis balls have changed in recent years which may also have been a factor in the changing speeds at Wimbledon.