The first extended grass-court swing is now behind us and, looking back, the additional time on the unique surface produced some very positive results. The longer and stronger swing on the lawn was welcomed by players and generally hailed as a big success.

With more time to transition from the clay to the grass, the big names featured prominently in the lengthened season, with the ‘Big Four’ — Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal — all capturing titles.

The highlight of the grass-court season was obviously the Wimbledon final match-up between world No 1 Djokovic and seven-time Wimbledon champion Federer, a repeat of the 2014 final.

Djokovic had played himself into top form midway through the championships with a thrilling five-set fourth round win over big-serving South African Kevin Anderson. Meanwhile Federer advanced to within one win of an eighth Wimbledon title with a stunning straight sets semi-final win over Murray that was considered to be one of the Swiss’ most impressive performances on Centre Court.

Djokovic proved too strong in the final, capturing his third Wimbledon title, but it took four hard sets before he could celebrate the very significant win, which brought up his ninth career Grand Slam title, moving the Serb ahead of the likes of Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl. It was the perfect response from Djokovic after the disappointment of losing the Roland Garros final. His dedication, talent and mental resolve know no bounds, and his place in history of the sport as one of the all-time greats is already assured.

Leading into Wimbledon, Federer had added yet another chapter to his book of records when he claimed an unprecedented eighth singles crown at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle after posting a hard fought 7-6, 6-4 win over Italian Andreas Seppi. That win was Roger’s 15th grass court title and his 86th career title overall.

Nadal scored his first grass court title in five years when he beat Viktor Troicki to win the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. Nadal, who had last tasted success on grass at Wimbledon in 2010, had prevailed twice before in Stuttgart, but the first two wins came on clay before the tournament switched to grass for the first time this year. I would like to recognise the tournament organisers in Stuttgart for doing a terrific job in the event’s first year on grass.

Meanwhile, Murray thrilled the British fans with his win at the Aegon Championships, claiming his fourth title at Queen’s Club with a victory over Anderson in the final. Elsewhere, grass-court specialist Nicolas Mahut won the Topshelf Open at ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Denis Istomin and Rajeev Ram rounded out the list of winners in the extended season with impressive wins at the Aegon Nottingham Open and Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport respectively.

And, finally, before we leave the grass courts behind for another year, a word of congratulations to the big-serving Ivo Karlovic, who set an ATP World Tour record for a three-set match when he slammed down 45 aces to beat Tomas Berdych and move into the semi-finals in Halle. His effort beat his own previous record by one, and he is quickly closing in on on Goran Ivanisevic’s record of all-time career aces on Tour.

The Tour now turns its attention to the North American hard court swing in the run up to the US Open in New York. The swing takes place through Canada and both the Midwest and East Coast regions of the United States.

The summer hard court swing is anchored by the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Montreal (Coupe Rogers) and Cincinnati (Western & Southern Open) and also features stops in Atlanta, Washington DC and Winston-Salem. Played in the heat of the North American summer, the hard court swing presents some of the toughest conditions, placing a premium on fitness and stamina, but at the same time producing some of the best matches of the year on the true-bouncing hardcourt surfaces.

It’s not just the prestigious titles on offer during the run through the hard courts that gets the players’ attention. With plenty of Emirates ATP Rankings points on the line, the hard court run is also critical to players contending to make it to the prestigious season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London in November.

With Djokovic as the only player to have sealed his place so far, the other seven spots in the Race to London remain open, with some big strides to be made over the coming weeks.

— Chris Kermode is ATP Executive Chairman and President