If you have the possibility and privilege to play a match on a grass court, you need to wear special tennis shoes. Because the surface is so slippery, all-court shoes just don’t do the job anymore here and that is why there are special grass court tennis shoes. Those are equipped with little spikes on the sole which help you to stay grounded and move safely on grass, while ideally not damaging the expensive court surface. But who even offers those shoes these days and what is the best one to go with?
In general, there aren’t a lot of grass-court shoes offered and there is a simple reason for that – outside of the UK there aren’t a lot of courts to begin with. Here in Germany, we only have about a dozen of courts that are open to the public and the further south or north you get, the harder it will be to find adequate courts. Prices for an hour of play can quickly come up to triple digits and besides the feeling of competing in Wimbledon, the play is mostly limited for average players. Still, the feeling of hitting balls on this legendary surface appeals to a lot of players and when the organizers of grass-court tournaments open their courts afterwards, they are usually booked within hours.
Furthermore, as we all know, the organizers of Wimbledon are still sticking with their strict rule about apparel – every part of the outfit needs to be white. This of course includes the shoe and often limits the design options to little highlights and logos in classic colors like black or green, further diminishing the differences in shoes. But there are a couple of available shoes nevertheless and they often are based on the most successful models that are available as of today.
Adidas Barricade 13
The Barricade is a stable of the adidas lineup for decades and after being out of offer for some years, the German manufacturer recently revived the line with the new version. The Barricade 13 is already the second edition of the new shoe and has all the sturdiness known from the classic models alongside improved comfort. The grass version here is of course held in classic white with a touch of green in the form of the legendary three stripes plus golden prints on the sole.
As for other surfaces, the shoe sports a mesh material to improve air circulation and is enhanced by AdiTuff, to be as sturdy and long-lived as possible. It is worn by pros like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime – so it will surely also be seen at the big grass tournaments this year.
Adidas Ubersonic 5
If you are rather looking for a faster shoe than the Barricade, adidas also offers the Ubersonic 5 as a grass-court version. The design is mostly the same, with green strips and golden highlights on an all-white shoe, but the qualities differ greatly. Whereas the Barricade is a rather heavy and very stable offer, the Ubersonic is all about acceleration and speed.
Its Lightstrike dampening helps with comfort, and the Speedframe technology is said to help with moving as fast as possible on the court. Other technologies like the mesh and AdiTuff are also present here, making this another option to consider when planning to visit your local grass court.
You can find most of the Adidas tennis shoes over at Tennis Warehouse (USA, Canada), Tennis Warehouse Europe (10% discount with the code TNERD10) or at TennisOnly (AU).
Head Sprint Pro 4.0
Another one of the faster shoes on the market is Head Sprint Pro, recently renewed in the 4.0 version and also offered as a grass-court version. The design is very basic with an all-white shoe sporting some grey branding but no other highlights. All other parts of the technology remain unchanged, making this a very lightweight shoe with a lot of mesh material, so that is becomes very breathable. There are technologies included like Drift Defense and Delta-strap, that are said to support the fit and durability of the shoes.
The Sprint is rather a stiff and lightweight shoe which doesn’t offer a lot of dampening but therefore feels very connected to the surface. The sole is equipped with Hybrasion+ rubber compound, that is meant to optimize traction on the slippery grass.
Buy the HEAD Sprint and many other brands at the HEAD website, Tennis Warehouse (USA, Canada), Tennis Warehouse Europe (10% discount with the code TNERD10) or at TennisOnly (AU). Other options for EU: Tennis Point Germany, Tennis Point Spain or Tennis Point Italy
Other brands
As of today, neither Nike nor Asics are offering grass-court shoes in their European brand stores or with TW Europe. We will see if we get a Vapor version with a specialized sole as we have in the past, where usually the Vapor Pro received version for carpet and grass. Asics on the other hand has always been restrictive with their versions and often limited supply of these shoes to pros only.
Other options that seem to be available include the Wilson Rush series and Babolat’s Jet Mach and Propulse Fury. So, if you are hitting the prestigious grass courts this summer, you better be on the lookout for the fitting shoe, as they might be hard to get a hand onto.
Read more about what shoes the top pro’s are using.
