Grand Slams

The Grand Slam tournaments, also known as the majors, are the 4 most famous events in tennis: the Australian Open, Roland-Garros (French Open), Wimbledon, and the US Open. They boast the best players, award the most ranking points, and distribute eye-watering amounts of prize money, making them the most important competitions in the annual tennis calendar. It therefore comes as no surprise that these tournaments also host the biggest crowds!

📜 Grand Slam History

The history of the Grand Slams began in earnest as world tennis became increasingly organised and centralised at the start of the 20th century. Certain tournaments began receiving official recognition as the most important events on the tour, so that by 1913 the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) had formerly recognised the World Grass Court Championships (Wimbledon), the World Hard Court Championships, and the World Covered Court Championships as tennis’ 3 premier events.

These competitions were all European, however, and thus unrepresentative of tennis’ widening global appeal. In the 1920’s this list was therefore expanded to include American and Australian events. By 1924, the International Lawn Tennis Federation officially designated the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and United States Open with “major” status. The term “Grand Slam”, meanwhile, actually originated from card games, before it made its way into golfing parlance in 1930 when Bobby Jones won 4 major championships. Soon after, sports columnist Alan Gould applied the term to tennis to describe the enviable goal of winning all 4 tennis majors.

💯 Grand Slam Format & Scoring

The format and scoring of all Grand Slam events are today widely the same. All 4 of the Grand Slam events host singles and doubles draws within both the men’s and women’s competitions, as well as a mixed doubles draw. The singles draws are comprised of 128 players, a number which is usually finalised after 3 rounds of qualifying, and the doubles draws each have 64 pairs. Wheelchair and quad draws are relatively recent additions to the events, but they have quickly become highly competitive and well-loved parts of Grand Slam tournaments. All Grand Slam competitions also include junior draws, showcasing the next generation of talent on the biggest stage.

Women’s singles, women’s doubles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles matches are all played to the best of 3 sets, whilst matches in the men’s singles draw are played to the best of 5 sets.

As if winning such prestigious and competitive events wasn’t hard enough, they are each played on different surfaces, so a player has to be the very best to succeed at multiple Grand Slams; the hard court Australian and US Opens bookend the tennis year, whilst the French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament played on clay, and Wimbledon the only event of the 4 played on grass.