Grand Slam Tennis
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:
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.
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Grand Slam History
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.
Four consecutive Grand Slam titles
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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