In tennis, a singles player or doubles team is said to have achieved the Grand Slam if they succeed in winning all four of the following championship titles in the same year:

• Tennis Australian Open (Melbourne)
• Tennis Open de France (Paris)
• Tennis UK Open (Wimbledon)
• Tennis US Open (Flushing Meadows)

These tournaments are therefore also known as the Grand Slam tournaments. They rank as the most important tennis tournaments of the year in the public mind, as well as in terms of world ranking points and prize-money awarded. The titles are known as Grand Slam titles.

 

 

The term "Grand Slam" was first used in 1933, by the American journalist John Kieran. In describing the attempt that year by Jack Crawford to win all four titles, he compared it with "a countered and vulnerable grand slam in bridge". Kieran singled out these four titles as being the biggest in tennis because, at the time, they were the main international championships held in the only four countries who had won the Davis Cup. Crawford failed to achieve the Grand Slam that year as he lost in the US Championships final to Fred Perry. It wasn't until 1938 that Donald Budge became the first person to achieve the Grand Slam.

The expression Grand Slam, initially used to describe the winning of the tennis major events, was later incorporated by other sports, notably golf, to describe a similar accomplishment.

 

Though the term "Grand Slam" was originally restricted to the winning of all four tournaments in the same calendar year, the International Tennis Federation declared the official term as a player holding all four titles simultaneously, regardless of the calendar year.

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Wikipedia information about Grand Slam
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