2026 Women’s Tennis Grass Rankings

Grass season is here. The WTA Tour has just a few weeks on the surface before Wimbledon, and for most players, that’s barely enough time to adjust. It makes the grass swing one of the more volatile stretches on the calendar – recent history is full of early upsets and unlikely deep runs.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a data-driven top 10 based on three equally weighted criteria: 2026 form, 2025 grass results and overall grass pedigree. Each player’s best Wimbledon result is also included as a reference point.

These rankings aren’t predictions, necessarily. But for those who are keen on capturing some of the early betting value this grass swing, they’re a snapshot of who the numbers say should be the strongest in 2026.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion sits at the top of these rankings with a 73% career grass win rate and a 31-8 season behind her. Rybakina won the Australian Open earlier this year, added Stuttgart, and reached the Indian Wells final too. She’s been the most consistent player behind Sabalenka in 2026.

Her grass season last year was a 5-3 return. She reached the Queen’s quarter-finals but fell short at Wimbledon, exiting earlier than expected – a rare stumble on a tennis surface she’s historically dominated.

What makes Rybakina so effective on grass is straightforward: her serve. It’s one of the biggest in the women’s game, and on a surface where the ball stays low and skids through, it becomes almost unplayable when she’s finding her spots. Her groundstrokes are flat and penetrating too, which keeps the pressure on between service games.

At 27, she’s in the prime of her career and has the game, the form and the experience to win Wimbledon again.

Sabalenka is 31-4 in 2026. That’s the best win-loss record of anyone on this list – the world No 1 has been the most dominant player in women’s tennis this year and arrives on grass in exceptional form.

The reason she’s not No 1 here is her grass resume. A 67% career win rate on the surface is the lowest of my top five, and her Wimbledon record is sub-par too (by her standards): three semi-finals in 2021, 2023 and 2025, and zero finals. Last year, Anisimova stopped her in the last four to end a 7-2 grass campaign.

Sabalenka has all the firepower you’d want on grass – a huge serve and massive groundstrokes off both wings. What’s been missing is the touch and variety needed to win those tight late-round matches on the surface. She tends to overpower opponents early, but her margins shrink at Wimbledon.

That said, she’s playing the best tennis of her career. If she’s ever going to break through at SW19, this feels like the year.

The defending champion has the best grass win rate on this list at 76%, and went 10-1 on the surface last year. She won Wimbledon by demolishing Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final – one of the most dominant Grand Slam performances in recent memory.

So why is she third? Her 2026 season. Swiatek is 21-10, hasn’t won a title all year, and lost her Roland-Garros crown to Andreeva. For a six-time Grand Slam champion, it’s been an uncharacteristically rough stretch. The consistency that defined her game for five years has gone missing.

Grass was supposed to be her weakest surface. Her heavy topspin and baseline game didn’t look like a natural fit. Then she went to Wimbledon last year and proved everyone wrong, taking the ball early and playing aggressive, first-strike tennis that took the draw apart.

She’ll need to find that level again, and quickly. With 2,000 points to defend and her confidence shaky, the pressure is on. But anyone who watched her last July knows what she’s capable of when it clicks.

Andreeva won Roland-Garros last week at 19, becoming the youngest Grand Slam champion in over a decade. She’s 36-9 for the year – the highest win count of anyone here – and the momentum behind her right now is enormous.

Putting her at No 4 ahead of Anisimova comes down to trajectory. Andreeva is heading up, fast. She made the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year and went 5-3 on grass – a respectable return for a teenager still learning the surface.

Her grass resume is slim at 11-6 from 17 career matches. That’s the thinnest on this list by some distance. But her game has the tools to work on the surface: variety, feel, sharp movement and competitive intensity.

The question is whether Roland-Garros momentum can transfer to grass. It doesn’t always. But Andreeva is clearly a special talent, and at 19, she’s only getting better.

Anisimova had the best grass season of any player on this list in 2025. She went 12-3, reached the Queen’s final, and then went on a run to the Wimbledon final, beating Putintseva, Noskova and Pavlyuchenkova along the way. Swiatek shut her out in the decider, but the run itself was a breakthrough.

However, I’ve got her at No 5 here because of what’s happened since then. Anisimova is just 13-7 in 2026, well off the level that carried her to a career-high ranking at the start of the year. There’s been no consistency, and she arrives on grass needing to find form at the same time as defending a mountain of points.

Her game fits this surface well. She hits flat, takes the ball early, and times the low bounce cleanly. Her 68% career grass win rate backs up the idea that this isn’t a one-off – she’s comfortable on the lawns.

If the 2025 version of Anisimova shows up, she’s a contender. If it doesn’t, she’s vulnerable to a big points drop.

Bencic’s grass record deserves more attention than it gets. We’re talking a 68% career win rate from 79 matches, a Wimbledon semi-final, and 54 wins on the surface – that puts her alongside Anisimova and ahead of several players ranked above her in these rankings.

The Swiss came back from maternity leave last year and went 5-2 on grass straight away. In 2026, she’s gone up another level – 21-6 overall, with wins over Swiatek, Anisimova and Shnaider.

Her game is efficient. She takes the ball early, moves well, and keeps errors low. She’s not going to overpower anyone, but her precision and timing work well on a surface where clean hitting matters. She’s also experienced at the business end of grass events, which counts for a lot.

Bencic edges ahead of Svitolina here because her grass numbers are significantly better. At 29, she’s in a good place to make another deep Wimbledon tennis tournament run.

Svitolina’s 53% grass win rate is easily the worst on this list. On face value, she shouldn’t be anywhere near the top 10 on grass. Her career record of 29-26 on the surface isn’t flattering.

But the recent picture looks different. She’s made the Wimbledon semi-finals twice – in 2019 and 2023 – and her form in 2026 has been outstanding. She’s 33-8, won Rome, and has beaten Gauff twice and Swiatek once this year. Injury cut her 2025 grass season to a 3-2 record, so the sample from last year is small.

Svitolina is experienced, competitive and tactically sharp. She isn’t a natural grass courter in the way Rybakina or Keys are, but she finds ways to win. Her deep Wimbledon runs prove that her 53% career win rate isn’t necessarily a reflection of her ceiling.

If her current form carries over, she’s a threat. If the surface catches her out early, then those career numbers will be reinforced.

Keys owns the third-best grass win rate on this list at 72%. The American has three titles on the surface – Eastbourne plus two in Birmingham – and two Wimbledon quarter-finals. 

Her game is built for grass. A big serve, flat power off both sides, and the ability to end points quickly. When she’s firing, there aren’t many players who can live with her on this surface.

The issue has always been her consistency. Keys is 15-8 this year and went 4-3 on grass last season – fine, but not what you’d expect from someone with her grass resume. She’s also never been past the Wimbledon quarter-finals, a puzzling stat for a player with this much grass-court talent.

At her best, she belongs in the top five. At her average, she’s an early-round exit waiting to happen. That range is what keeps her at No 8.

This will raise eyebrows. Gauff went 0-2 on grass last year, which is a terrible return for a player of her standing. On that basis alone, she doesn’t belong in the top 10.

But the rest of her numbers make her hard to leave out. She’s 26-10 in 2026, has a 67% career grass win rate, and is a two-time Grand Slam champion. She’s made the Wimbledon fourth round three times, and at 22, she’s still improving.

The American’s game should work on grass. She’s got a solid serve, heavy groundstrokes, and one of the best returns in the women’s game. Her movement is excellent too. That 0-2 last year looks like an aberration rather than a pattern – her career record on the surface doesn’t support the idea that grass is a problem for her.

If she bounces back, she could easily be in the top five by the end of the swing. If last year’s grass form carries over, she’ll drop out of these rankings fast. It’s a gamble putting her here, but Gauff’s upside is too high to leave out.

Muchova’s grass record doesn’t look great. A 50% career win rate and a 1-2 return last year are hard numbers to build a case on.

What gets her in is everything else. She’s 24-7 in 2026 – one of the best records in the women’s game this season – and has made the Wimbledon quarter-finals twice. The Czech is also one of the most versatile players on Tour: she can serve and volley, play touch tennis, hit with power, and adjust her game to any surface. On grass, that kind of variety is a weapon.

My concern is obvious. Half her career grass matches have been losses, and she went 1-2 last year. She’s the kind of player who can beat anyone on a given day but can also lose to anyone. On grass, where margins are thin, that volatility is amplified.

Still, her 2026 form is too good to ignore, and two Wimbledon quarter-finals show she can perform when it matters on this surface. She’s a high-risk, high-reward pick at No 10.

There are a whole host of WTA players who didn’t quite make the cut for my women’s tennis grass rankings.

• Jessica Pegula – 28-7, 4-2, 31-19 (62%), quarter-finalist x1
• Barbora Krejcikova – 9-6, 4-2, 25-13 (66%), champion x1
• Jelena Ostapenko – 16-13, 1-2, 53-25 (68%), semi-finalist x1
• Donna Vekic – 12-11, 2-4, 57-38 (60%), semi-finalist x1
• Jasmine Paolini – 12-11, 3-3, 14-14 (50%), finalist x1
• Naomi Osaka – 12-6, 3-3, 18-17 (51%), third round x3
• Katie Boulter – 16-10, 4-3, 40-24 (63%), third round x2
• Diana Shnaider – 18-12, 4-4, 14-8 (64%), third round x1
• Daria Kasatkina – 10-11, 2-4, 37-23 (62%), quarter-finalist x1
• Karolina Pliskova – 14-6, 0-0, 59-32 (65%), finalist x1
• Linda Noskova – 17-10, 8-3, 12-9 (57%), round of 16 x1
• Victoria Mboko – 24-9, 3-2, 3-2 (60%), second round x1
• Marta Kostyuk – 23-5, 0-3, 14-18 (44%), third round x2

Two names in these honorable mentions stand out. Pegula has been in strong form at 28-7, won Berlin on grass in 2024, and has a Wimbledon quarter-final. She narrowly missed the top 10 but could easily work her way back in.

Krejcikova is a Wimbledon champion – she won the 2024 title – but her 9-6 record this year made it impossible to justify a spot over the players above.

Then there are Ostapenko and Vekic, who both have Wimbledon semi-finals and strong career grass numbers, but neither has been consistent enough this season. Paolini reached the 2024 Wimbledon final, though her grass record sits at 50-50 and she hasn’t built on that run. Boulter and Shnaider are both grass-court title winners but lack deep Wimbledon results.

Pliskova is a former Wimbledon finalist who hasn’t played a grass match this year. Kasatkina won Eastbourne in 2024 but is 10-11 in 2026.

Noskova had an impressive 8-3 grass season last year and is one to watch. Mboko has had a breakout 2026 at 24-9 and partnered with Serena Williams in doubles at Queen’s this week. And Kostyuk, despite excellent form at 23-5, went 0-3 on grass last year with a 44% career rate.

Think these power rankings have it right? If you’ve got a view, now’s the time to get a bet in on sports betting websites before Wimbledon odds tighten up.