Swiss racket sports and Wimbledon fans don't have to travel to Great Britain to try tennis on grass. GotCourt's partner facility Tennis Champagne at Terrain Gurzelen in Biel offers grass courts. The Tennis Champagne facility used to be the old Gurzelen football stadium. On the former football field there are now two real grass courts. Tennis Champagne is the only public grass court venue in Switzerland. One of their courts can be booked easily via the GotCourts app.

Grass court tennis and Wimbledon are often associated with a closed elitist society and tradition. However, different rules apply at Tennis Champagne. The facility has a relaxed atmosphere and everyone is welcome to try grass court tennis. The old stadium stands have been the site of numerous projects such as Radio Mute, music venues and a skate park. Occasionally, rock concerts are held here. With a long slide, children are also well catered for (source 1).

GotCourts was on site and below you can find some video impressions of the facility:

Big CommitmentThree volunteers (greenkeepers) maintain the courts. Almost every day they trim the courts with a special lawn mower, and in addition, the courts need to be constantly watered. In order for the ball to bounce high enough on the grass, the ground under the turf must be hard. Therefore, during the construction of the court, 30 tons of earth were excavated and replaced with volcanic sand (source 2).

Road to Wimbledon - from Biel to London

If you are lucky, you can even see international and national tennis pros on the court, especially during the preparation for the grass season. Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Russian Vera Zwonarewa or Swiss players like Dominik Stricker and Marc-Andrea Hüsler have their first training sessions on grass at Tennis Champagne (source 1).

Highlights from past events and tournaments: