What we are learning in this week’s Wimbledon warm up tournaments

The tennis calendar is endless.

Players are trying to get ready for Wimbledon while playing in the key warm up tournaments this week in Eastbourne or Bad Homburg.

It is a mixed bag of events that always occurs in the week before a Grand Slam that has me wondering why there are tournaments this week anyway.

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Jack Draper benefits from playing Wimbledon warm up

Jack Draper is one of the few benefitting from playing this week. To begin with, he is playing in front of the home crowd with the newest member of his team, Andy Murray, in his box.

Draper has played frightfully little since last year’s US Open so getting reps in at Eastbourne helps him. He has won both rounds in straight sets. It gets him somewhat acclimated to match play, but these matches are best of three instead of Wimbledon’s best of five.

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Playing this week can do more harm than good for some players

Elina Svitolina, the Italian Open champion, has played a lot of tennis in 2026. She had to withdraw from Bad Homburg after winning a hard fought second round three-set match against Liudmila Samsonova. She is now dealing with a right hip injury days before Wimbledon.

Grand Slam champions are losing early

The 2026 French Open champion Mirra Andreeva and 2025 Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek were defeated at Bad Homburg by Ekaterina Alexandrova and Emma Navarro, respectively.

These results are somewhat unexpected, despite Navarro playing great tennis in the past month. Is Andreeva still shaking off Paris fatigue? Is Swiatek thinking ahead about her title defense?

Part of me thinks that everyone should be at Wimbledon practicing this week. Many players are, and I understand others are trying to gain earnings and ranking points this week, but the week before a Grand Slam always confuses more than clarifies what could happen next week.