diff --git a/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker-private.h b/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker-private.h
index 1ec4aff2d..20faa4111 100644
--- a/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker-private.h
+++ b/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker-private.h
@@ -37,22 +37,8 @@ struct _MetaCursorTracker {
 
   gboolean is_showing;
 
-  /* The cursor tracker stores the cursor for the current grab
-   * operation, the cursor for the window with pointer focus, and
-   * the cursor for the root window, which contains either the
-   * default arrow cursor or the 'busy' hourglass if we're launching
-   * an app.
-   *
-   * We choose the first one available -- if there's a grab cursor,
-   * we choose that cursor, if there's window cursor, we choose that,
-   * otherwise we choose the root cursor.
-   *
-   * The displayed_cursor contains the chosen cursor.
-   */
   MetaCursorReference *displayed_cursor;
 
-  MetaCursorReference *grab_cursor;
-
   /* Wayland clients can set a NULL buffer as their cursor
    * explicitly, which means that we shouldn't display anything.
    * So, we can't simply store a NULL in window_cursor to
@@ -74,8 +60,6 @@ struct _MetaCursorTrackerClass {
 gboolean meta_cursor_tracker_handle_xevent (MetaCursorTracker *tracker,
 					    XEvent            *xevent);
 
-void     meta_cursor_tracker_set_grab_cursor     (MetaCursorTracker   *tracker,
-                                                  MetaCursorReference *cursor);
 void     meta_cursor_tracker_set_window_cursor   (MetaCursorTracker   *tracker,
                                                   MetaCursorReference *cursor);
 void     meta_cursor_tracker_unset_window_cursor (MetaCursorTracker   *tracker);
diff --git a/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker.c b/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker.c
index ac2d96542..6005e5965 100644
--- a/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker.c
+++ b/src/backends/meta-cursor-tracker.c
@@ -63,11 +63,11 @@ get_displayed_cursor (MetaCursorTracker *tracker)
   if (!tracker->is_showing)
     return NULL;
 
-  if (tracker->grab_cursor)
-    return tracker->grab_cursor;
-
-  if (tracker->has_window_cursor)
-    return tracker->window_cursor;
+  if (tracker->screen->display->grab_op == META_GRAB_OP_NONE)
+    {
+      if (tracker->has_window_cursor)
+        return tracker->window_cursor;
+    }
 
   return tracker->root_cursor;
 }
@@ -374,17 +374,6 @@ meta_cursor_tracker_get_hot (MetaCursorTracker *tracker,
     }
 }
 
-void
-meta_cursor_tracker_set_grab_cursor (MetaCursorTracker   *tracker,
-                                     MetaCursorReference *cursor)
-{
-  g_clear_pointer (&tracker->grab_cursor, meta_cursor_reference_unref);
-  if (cursor)
-    tracker->grab_cursor = meta_cursor_reference_ref (cursor);
-
-  sync_cursor (tracker);
-}
-
 void
 meta_cursor_tracker_set_window_cursor (MetaCursorTracker   *tracker,
                                        MetaCursorReference *cursor)
diff --git a/src/core/display.c b/src/core/display.c
index 464ddf974..bb5946886 100644
--- a/src/core/display.c
+++ b/src/core/display.c
@@ -1702,14 +1702,8 @@ meta_display_set_grab_op_cursor (MetaDisplay *display,
 {
   /* Set root cursor */
   MetaBackend *backend = meta_get_backend ();
-  MetaCursorTracker *tracker = meta_cursor_tracker_get_for_screen (display->screen);
-  MetaCursor cursor = meta_cursor_for_grab_op (op);
-  MetaCursorReference *cursor_ref;
 
-  cursor_ref = meta_cursor_reference_from_theme (cursor);
-  meta_cursor_tracker_set_grab_cursor (tracker, cursor_ref);
-  if (cursor_ref)
-    meta_cursor_reference_unref (cursor_ref);
+  meta_screen_set_cursor (display->screen, meta_cursor_for_grab_op (op));
 
   if (meta_backend_grab_device (backend, META_VIRTUAL_CORE_POINTER_ID, timestamp))
     display->grab_have_pointer = TRUE;
@@ -1862,8 +1856,6 @@ void
 meta_display_end_grab_op (MetaDisplay *display,
                           guint32      timestamp)
 {
-  MetaCursorTracker *tracker;
-
   meta_topic (META_DEBUG_WINDOW_OPS,
               "Ending grab op %u at time %u\n", display->grab_op, timestamp);
 
@@ -1904,8 +1896,7 @@ meta_display_end_grab_op (MetaDisplay *display,
       meta_window_ungrab_all_keys (display->grab_window, timestamp);
     }
 
-  tracker = meta_cursor_tracker_get_for_screen (display->screen);
-  meta_cursor_tracker_set_grab_cursor (tracker, NULL);
+  meta_screen_set_cursor (display->screen, META_CURSOR_DEFAULT);
 
   display->grab_timestamp = 0;
   display->grab_window = NULL;