The Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments | History, Records, and More

Grand Slam tournaments, also called majors, are the four most important annual tennis events.

Key Points About Grand Slam Tournaments

• The Grand Slam itinerary consists of the Australian Open in mid-January, the French Open from around late May to early June, Wimbledon in June–July, and the US Open in August–September.
• Each tournament is played over a two-week period.
• The Australian and United States tournaments are played on hard courts, the French on clay, and Wimbledon on grass.
• Novak Djokovic equalised Rafael Nadal’s record of most grand slam titles by winning the 2023 Australian Open.

The Four Grand Slam Tournaments

Australian Open

Australian open started in 1905. This tournament held annually in Melbourne over the fortnight of January. It is played on hard courts. It was the first Grand Slam tournament to feature indoor play during wet weather or extreme heat where courts are equipped with retractable roofs. The tournament holds the record for the highest attendance at a Grand Slam event.

French Open

French open started in 1891. It is also known as Ronald Garros tournament. It was held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris. This tournament is played on clay courts. The event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world and Roland Garros is currently the only major open (sport) held on clay.

Wimbledon

Wimbledon started in 1877. This grass court tennis grand slam is the oldest of all four of these tennis events. The oldest, still-active tennis tournament in the entire world, it is looked at by many in the tennis world as the most prestigious, and it is usually held from late June to early July. Generally, it took place over two weeks in late June and early July, starting on the third Monday in June.

Since its year of inception, which was 1877, Wimbledon has been held at the All England Club located in Wimbledon, London. In 1877, the one tennis event that was held at this club was the Gentlemen’s Singles, and it was won by a fellow named Spencer Gore who competed in a field of 22 participants. Some 200 spectators paid a shilling a piece to watch this final tennis tournament.

US open

US open started in 1881. It held annually, starting on the last Monday in August, and lasting for two weeks into September

This tournament is played on hard court. The US Open is the only Grand Slam that employs tiebreakers in every set of a match.

Grand Slam Categories

In Grand Slam there are 5 categories

• Men’s Singles
• Women’s singles
• Men’s Doubles
• Women’s doubles
• Mixed doubles

Grand Slam Records

• American Don Budge was the first to achieve a Grand Slam in 1938, with Australian Rod Laver the only other men’s singles player to repeat the feat. 
• Maureen Connolly was the first woman to pull it off in women’s singles when she did so in 1953. Margaret Court and Steffi Graf are the only other players to have done the same since. 
• Dylan Alcott was the last player to complete a Grand Slam in 2021 when he did so in the wheelchair quad singles. 

Most grand slam titles won by a player in men’s singles

Most Grand Slam titles won by a player in women’s singles

The Golden Slam

• A Golden Slam requires players to also win Olympic gold on top of the four grand slam events in the same year. 
• Steffi Graf was the first to complete a Golden Slam in 1988, with only wheelchair players Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott managing to replicate the feat since. 
• In the end, only Alcaraz’s incredible performance at Wimbledon stopped Djokovic from making it a golden 2023

Tennis

• Tennis is a sport played among two players or two pairs of players competing with each other in a rectangular tennis court with fixed boundaries.
• The two sides of the court are separated with a net. The sport involves shooting a tennis ball towards the other side of the court with a tennis racket.
• The ball has to fall within the court boundaries. Players gain a point when the opposite team or player fails to deliver the ball to the opponent.
• Tennis tests players in delivering the ball in the intended direction and in defending the ball delivered by their opponent.
• On March 1^st, 1913, International Tennis Federation (ITF), the international governing body of Tennis was established.
• It formulates rules to be followed by all the players participating in competitions throughout the world. It also sets guidelines, defines the kind of equipment used in the sport, and defines court dimensions.
• Tennis is believed to have originated during 12^thor 13^th century in France.
• However, it was played by Major Walter C. Wingfield, in an hourglass shaped court in 1873 in Great Britain. It seems to have evolved from similar ancient sports like court tennis, squash racquets and badminton.

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