To win a grand slam title is something every tennis player dreams of from the day they start swinging their racquet.
Despite the difficulty of winning a grand slam tournament, a select few have dominated on the biggest stage throughout the years.
The past two decades have in particular seen certain players cement their place in history by winning a record number of grand slam titles.
In 2024, the battle for those records continues, with the next Grand Slam being the Wimbledon championships.
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In running order, the four grand slam events held each year are the: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
The French Open is played on clay, Wimbledon on grass and the remaining two are competed on hard courts.
Wimbledon is the oldest grand slam event, founded in 1877, followed by the US Open four years later, the French Open in 1891, and the Australian Open in 1905.
Novak Djokovic and Margaret Court currently hold the record for most grand slam singles titles.
Djokovic took the lead outright in the men’s game by winning his third Roland-Garros title at the 2023 French Open when Rafael Nadal was ruled out of his title defence by injury.
Nadal had taken sole ownership of the men’s singles record after edging past Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic with his 2022 Australian Open triumph. He then extended his lead at that year’s French Open before Djokovic pulled back within one at Wimbledon.
Djokovic’s triumph in the 2023 Australian Open final, where he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas, saw him draw level with Nadal at the top of the men’s standings and, after losing a five-set thriller to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, he beat Daniil Medvedev in straight sets at the US Open.
That meant a third grand slam of the calendar year and a victory that drew him level with Court’s iconic haul of 24.
Swiss great Federer will not have the chance to add to his grand slam haul after announcing his retirement following the Laver Cup in September 2022, while Nadal’s chances of catching Djokovic again are in serious doubt after he spoke of the possibility of retiring in 2024.
Court, meanwhile, looked set to be caught by Serena Williams but the American failed to win any of her last four grand slam finals and, like Federer, recently stepped away from the sport.
| Player | Grand Slam titles |
|---|---|
| Novak Djokovic | 24 |
| Rafael Nadal | 22 |
| Roger Federer | 20 |
| Pete Sampras | 14 |
| Roy Emerson | 12 |
| Rod Laver | 11 |
| Bjorn Borg | 11 |
| Bill Tilden | 10 |
| Jimmy Connors | 8 |
| Fred Perry | 8 |
| Andre Agassi | 8 |
| Ivan Lendl | 8 |
| Ken Rosewall | 8 |
*Active players have been bolded
| Player | Grand Slam titles |
|---|---|
| Margaret Court | 24 |
| Serena Williams | 23 |
| Steffi Graf | 22 |
| Helen Wills | 19 |
| Chris Evert | 18 |
| Martina Navratilova | 18 |
| Billie Jean King | 12 |
| Maureen Connolly | 9 |
| Monica Seles | 9 |
| Suzanne Lenglen | 8 |
| Molla Mallory | 8 |
The term ‘Grand Slam’ actually relates to the achievement of winning all four tournaments in the same year.
Winning one title is hard enough, but winning all four straight is extremely difficult.
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.
If a Grand Slam wasn’t rare enough, 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.
