In tennis, the four biggest tournaments are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Winning all four in the same calendar year is called the Calendar Grand Slam, and it is the hardest individual achievement in the sport.
To do it, a player must master three different surfaces, including clay, grass, and hard courts, travel across continents, and beat the best players in the world for months without a single bad week.
Top 5 Tennis Players Who Won A Calendar Grand Slam
In the entire history of tennis, only five players have ever done it. Let’s know about them.
| Player | Year |
|---|---|
| Don Budge | 1938 |
| Maureen Connolly | 1953 |
| Rod Laver | 1962, 1969 |
| Margaret Court | 1970 |
| Steffi Graf | 1988 |
1. Don Budge
Don Budge of the United States was not just the first to win the Calendar Grand Slam, but he was the one who invented the idea.
In 1938, Don Budge beat John Bromwich in the Australian final, Roderich Menzel in the French final, Bunny Austin at Wimbledon and Gene Mako at the US Championships.
Three of those four majors were on grass. He travelled to Australia by boat, arrived with laryngitis, and still won without dropping a set.
Don Budge turned professional after 1938, which meant he was banned from the Grand Slams permanently.
2. Maureen Connolly
American player Maureen Connolly, nicknamed ‘Little Mo,’ became the first woman in history to complete the Calendar Grand Slam in 1953, at just 19 years old. She won all four majors without dropping a single set across the entire year.
Her career was cut brutally short the very next year when a horse-riding accident caused a serious leg injury that ended her tennis career at 19.
She is remembered as one of the most complete players of her era.
3. Rod Laver
Rod Laver is the only player in history to win the Calendar Grand Slam twice. He did it first in 1962 as an amateur. Then he turned professional in 1963 and was banned from Grand Slams for six years, since professionals were not allowed to compete. When the Open Era began in 1968, and professionals were finally let back in, Rod Laver won all four majors again in 1969, at the age of 31, beating Andres Gimeno, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, and Tony Roche in the four finals.
4. Margaret Court
Margaret Court of Australia holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles with 24. Her 1970 season was the peak, winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year.
Margaret Court was also a pioneer of physical training for women. She was one of the first female players to seriously use weight training and fitness work as part of her preparation, and her strength across three surfaces in 1970 showed exactly why it worked.
5. Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf’s 1988 season is widely considered the greatest single year in tennis history. She won the Australian Open over Chris Evert, the French Open over Natasha Zvereva, Wimbledon over six-time defending champion Martina Navratilova, and the US Open over Gabriela Sabatini.
Across all four tournaments, she lost only two sets in 28 matches as she was 19 years old.
Then, three weeks after winning the US Open, she won the Olympic gold medal in Seoul, becoming the first and still the only player in history to win the Golden Slam: all four Grand Slams plus the Olympic gold in the same calendar year.
