Winning all four major titles, Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, is a major achievement for any Tennis player. Only eight men and ten women have won all four titles so far which highlights the importance of winning majors.
However, the likes of Serena Williams (23), Steffi Graff (22), Martina Navratilova (18), Chris Evert (18), Rafael Nadal (22), Pete Sampras (14), Roger Federer (20), and Novak Djokovic (22) have made it look easy to win a major title in the recent history.
But notably, only one of the above legends has managed to win the Golden Slam, the most prestigious title in Tennis, so far. So, what is this Golden Slam, and who has achieved this rarest feat?
What is Golden Slam in Tennis?
Golden Slam term first emerged in Tennis when the German star Steffi Graf pulled off an unbelievable title-laden year in 1988. Steffi won all four Grand Slam titles in 1988 and also bagged the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Before Steffi, seven women had won all four major titles, making it a career Grand Slam, so the new term ‘Golden Slam’ was invented to honour Steffi’s extraordinary feat.
Notably, no one has repeated Steffi’s heroics to date, which makes her the greatest Tennis player of all time.
Career Golden Slam
However, there are 11 other players, including four in singles events, who have won all four Grand Slam titles and Olympic Gold in their illustrious careers but not it the same, a feat termed as Career Golden Slam.
In men’s singles, Andre Agassi was the first player to claim Career Golden Slamin 1999 by winning the French Open title. The current Spanish star Rafael Nadal then repeated Sampras’ success in 2010 by winning his first-ever US Open.
Serena Williams became the second women Tennis player to claim Career Golden Slam by winning the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She is also the only player, male or female, to win the Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles events, having won the gold medal in doubles in the 2000, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics.
List of Tennis players to win Career Golden Slam (Singles):
- Steffi Graff (Germany) in 1988
- Andre Agassi (USA) in 1999
- Rafael Nadal (Spain) in 2010
- Serena Williams (USA) in 2012
List of Tennis players to win Career Golden Slam (Doubles):
- Pam Shriver in 1988
- Gigi Fernandez in 1996
- Todd Woodbridge in 2000
- Mark Woodforde in 2000
- Serena Williams in 2001
- Venus Williams in 2001
- Daniel Nestor in 2002
- Bob Bryan in 2012
- Mike Bryan in 2012
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