tennis’ grand slams

The Grand Slam tournaments, also called majors, are the four most important annual tennis events. They offer the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention, the greatest strength and size of field, and greater number of "best of" sets for men, which is 5.

The Grand Slam itinerary consists of the Australian Open in mid January, the French Open (also known as Roland Garros) 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. Wimbledon is the oldest, founded in 1877, followed by the US in 1881, the French in 1891, and the Australian in 1905.

The sport of tennis is defined by these four major championships or “the Grand Slams”. Throughout its history, the greatest matches have been played on the sport’s grandest stages. The greatest champions in the sport have also amassed the most number of Grand Slam singles titles.

The leader in Grand Slam singles titles for men and women are as follows:

Men:

Roger Federer (20)

Rafael Nadal (20)

Novak Djokovic (20)

Pete Sampras (14)

Roy Emerson (12)

Rod Laver / Bjorn Borg (11)

Women:

Margaret Court (24)

Serena Williams (23)

Steffi Graf (22)