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Eastbourne 2026 - ATP 250 Preview

(22 - 27 June) The slowest grass on tour — slower even than some clay. And if the Eastbourne wind picks up, conditions level further, rewarding grinders over big servers.

nishi
nishi
– 2 min read
Eastbourne 2026 - ATP 250 Preview

Here is my preview of the ATP 250 in Eastbourne (Lexus Eastbourne Open).

Speed Data

Eastbourne is played on slow grass courts.

 These are the statistics for the last five years:

  • 72.2% Points won on first serve
  • 81.0% Service games held
  • 0.53 Aces/Game
  • 0.23 Tie-breaks/Set

According to these numbers, it is the slowest grass venue in the circuit. By far.

Even Gstaad (clay) is played faster than Eastbourne.

Previous winners

  • 2025: Fritz d. Brooksby
  • 2024: Fritz d. Purcell
  • 2023: F. Cerundolo d. Paul
  • 2022: Fritz d. Cressy
  • 2021: De Minaur d. Sonego

 Fritz. has lifted this trophy four times and Feliciano López twice.

Weather 

Eastbourne is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England. 

An unusually warm week is expected for southern England, with daytime temperatures generally ranging from 27-33°C (81-91°F) and overnight lows between 16-21°C (61-70°F). Humidity should be moderate to high, typically around 55-75%, making conditions feel warmer than usual at times, especially overnight. Winds are expected to be light to moderate, averaging 10-20 km/h (6-12 mph). The dominant pattern is warm, dry and sunny weather, although a few isolated thunderstorms cannot be ruled out later in the week.

Player's quotes

Fritz, 2025: "It wasn’t the most fun match to play. I’ve been in Eastbourne so many years and I love this tournament. I’ve been very lucky in all these years to not play in very windy conditions. It’s tough to not play the tennis I love to play and have to scrap all around the court. Especially the first set and a half was crazy wind. But I’m obviously very happy with the wind."

Purcell, 2024: “I had to pull it all out today. I thank the kind wind gods for giving me these conditions today because they definitely helped me. I hope I can get the same conditions tomorrow.”

Fritz, 2024: "Yeah he played really well and with the wind and everything, that was a very miserable match to play, honestly. I definitely feel well here. It's tough to take too much from today. You're never really going to feel great hitting the ball when it's as windy as it was. But if I can serve as well as I served today, even in this wind, I'm pretty happy about that."

Harris, 2024: “We used to play a lot in the wind, in the Isle of Man, so maybe that helped me today. I don’t know what my secret is but I’ve had three great weeks and I’m loving it out here.”

Murray, 2019: "Conditions here are very different to Queen's court. It’s really slow out there."

Summary

It is the slowest grass tournament in the circuit.

Watch out for the wind. If there are strong gusts, it's another factor that levels the playing field and can disadvantage more aggressive players while favoring those who are more accustomed to clay courts.

Like I said about the Mallorca tournament, take care with players who played last week in Germany and London. They will notice a change in conditions, even though it is grass. So it's better if you have time to adapt.

Draws

Here’s the link to the tournament draw, which you can check for updates at any time:

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