ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — “You’ve just got to fall well, because you’re going to fall at some point on the grass.”That was Tommy Paul, the American world No. 25, describing one of the most rarefied tennis paradoxes in a news conference at Queen’s, the prestigious grass-court event held in southwest London.No tennis player wants to fall. But if it’s going to be inevitable, then like a forehand, a backhand or a serve, it’s something that can be practiced — or at least studied.Paul’s words have proven prescient during the first few days of Wimbledon, where players losing their footing and either hurting themselves or not is as perennial as the strawberries and cream. Grass is already tennis’ slipperiest surface; in the first few days of the tournament, when it is as lush as it gets, it presents maximum risk to an onrushing player clad in white.On the opening day, defending champion Jannik Sinner took a couple of nasty falls during his win over Miomir Kecmanović, the second of which looked as though it might have caused a serious knee injury. Thankfully for Sinner, he got away with it, springing upward as his legs gave way and absorbing the impact through his hip.“It is the most normal thing. Grass court is like this. Especially the first couple of matches when the grass is very new, you slip a little bit more,” he said in a news conference.“We did a lot of prevention before this tournament because we knew things like this could happen potentially. Today it happened. So most important is to take this part away and keep moving like before, because if not, when you are very scared, everything goes too slow.”Maja Chwalińska, this year’s French Open finalist, wasn’t so lucky. Chwalińska had match point in her first-round match Monday against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew when she slipped and injured her right ankle on Court 12. Chwalińska took a medical timeout for the injury at the end of the game, and she was clearly hampered by it for the rest of the match. After eventually losing in three sets, having led 6-2, 5-2, Chwalińska said in a news conference: “I don’t have a huge experience playing on grass. I know that it happens.”Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov were forced to retire from their first-round matches Monday after injuring themselves slipping on the lush grass. On Tuesday, French Open champion Alexander Zverev slipped worryingly on the baseline but was able to get straight back up. Coco Gauff did the same in the final-set tiebreak of her win against Solana Sierra on Wednesday.Falling over on grass is an occupational hazard, and whether a player gets injured most often comes down to pure luck. But having an awareness of how to mitigate the impact of falls, and developing the mentality not to be scared of falling, can be crucial to making a deep run at the slipperiest Slam.Why is Wimbledon still played on grass?Tifo SportsPaul is an accomplished grass-court player. He won Queen’s in 2024 and lost in this year’s final to Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo. Cerúndolo went out in the first round at Wimbledon, and analyst Gill Gross suggested that the slipperiness of the grass may have been a factor. While Wimbledon grass is fresh, the men’s event at Queen’s follows the women’s, so it takes place on more played-in turf — the ball bounces higher, which suits Cerúndolo’s forehand better than a low, skidding ball.