tournaments a professional player must win within a calendar year to earn a Grand Slam title. The four Grand Slam tournaments, also known as majors, include the Australian Open, the French Open,
, and the US Open, and take place in that order over the course of the year. These tournaments set themselves apart by providing the largest scale in almost every aspect of a tennis tournament, including media attention, highest prize money, most ranking points, and longest matches.
Types of Grand Slam
There are different types of Grand Slams that can be achieved, including a calendar-year Grand Slam or a career Grand Slam and, lastly, what is unofficially known as a Golden Slam, which is achieved by winning the four Grand Slam tournaments as well as an
Olympic gold medal in the same year. A Golden Slam has only been claimed by Steffi Graf in 1988 and one Golden Slam has been accomplished in wheelchair tennis by Diede de Groot in 2021. A Grand Slam can be claimed in either men or women's singles, doubles or mixed doubles. Currently
Serena Williams has the highest number of
Grand Slam tournament singles titles among women with 23 titles, after she surpassed tennis legend Steffi Graf in 2017. Serena Williams is now currently just one major title ahead of not only Steffi Graf, but also the current
leading men's singles Grand Slam tournaments title holder, which is
Rafael Nadal since 2022.
The Australian Open
The Australian Open is the first of the majors to take place each year and is contested on hard courts. The tournament is usually held in Melbourne in late January but has also taken place in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, as well as the 1906 competition in Christchurch, New Zealand and the 1912 competition in Hastings, New Zealand. Novak Djokovic has won the
most Australian Open men's singles titles as of 2022, with nine wins. As for
most women's singles titles, Serena Williams is leading with seven titles. The 2022 Australian Open started on January 17 and ended with the women's singles final on January 29 and the men's singles final a day after on January 30. First place for both paid out a
prize money of close to 2.9 million Australian dollars. For the men's singles, Rafael Nadal claimed the prize and won his 21st Grand Slam tournament win, placing him at the top of the list for all-time major victories.
The French Open
The second major tournament of the year is the French Open, also known as Roland-Garros. The stadium in Paris which is home to the French Open is named after Roland Garros, a French aviator and fighter pilot. The French Open 2022 took place from May 22 to June 5 and saw Rafael Nadal claim his 22nd Grand Slam tournament win. Nadal's dominance on clay can be seen by the fact he has won a record 14
French Open men's singles titles, more than twice the number of his closest competitor. In terms of the
women's singles titles at the French Open, Chris Evert lifted the trophy a record seven times between 1974 and 1986. The 2022 French Open paid out
prize money of 2.2 million euros to the winners of the men's and women's singles.
Wimbledon
While the other majors had to postpone their events to some degree because of the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the third annual Grand Slam tournament, called The Championships, or Wimbledon, was forced to cancel the 2020 tournament. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and the first competition dates back to 1877. It is also the only of the four majors to be played on grass courts. Wimbledon in 2022 took place from June 27 to July 10 and awarded
prize money of two million British pounds to the winners of men's and women's singles. Roger Federer currently holds the
most men's singles titles at Wimbledon, with his latest title coming in 2017. Since that year,
Novak Djokovic has won all four tournaments, taking into account that 2020 was cancelled.
Ticket prices for Wimbledon ranged from eight British pounds for a ground pass on the final day to 240 British pounds for center court ticket to the finals. The right for a ticket series can be bought via
debentures, which the club sells on a five year cycle.
US Open
Last but not least, the US Open is the final Grand Slam tournament on the tennis calendar. It is not to be confused with the U.S. Open for golf, which is also one of four major tournaments for its sport. Like the Australian Open, the US Open is also played on a hard court and takes place from late August into September. The latest US Open in 2022 awarded
prize money of 2.6 million U.S. dollars for the respective singles winner. Serena Williams and Christ Evert are tied for
most women's singles titles at the US Open, each with six wins. In the United States, the US Open had an
average of 0.8 million viewers on ESPN in 2021.
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