What are the 4 major Grand Slams? All you need to know about big tennis titles

Wimbledon Championship, French Open, Australian Open, and US Open are the four most prestigious tennis events. They are often called Grand Slam events. When a player wins all these four prestigious events in the same calendar year, he/she is said to have won the Grand Slam Title. Very few players have been able to achieve this remarkable feat of winning the Grand Slam title. To compete for the grand slam, players must play a series of tournaments that lead to one of the championships.

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Australian Open Championship

The first major grand slam championship of the year is the Australian Open. This hard court championship was first played in 1905 and was a men’s only event. In 1922, women also started competing in the Australian Open championship.  It got its current name the Australian Open in 1969. The tournament is held in Melbourne Park in Melbourne and is one of the toughest tennis tournaments. Novak Djokovic has won the Australian Open title a record nine times.

List of Australian Open Championship Winners Male (2011-2021)

Year	Men
	Winner	Runners Up
2011	Novak Djokovic	Andy Murray
2012	Novak Djokovic	Rafael Nadal
2013	Novak Djokovic	Andy Murray
2014	Stan Wawrinka	Rafael Nadal
2015	Novak Djokovic	Andy Murray
2016	Novak Djokovic	Andy Murray
2017	Roger Federer	Rafael Nadal
2018	Roger Federer	Marin Cilic
2019	Novak Djokovic	Rafael Nadal
2020	Novak Djokovic	Dominic Thiem
2021	Novak Djokovic	Daniil Medvedev

List of Australian Open Championship Winners Female (2011-2021)

Year	Women
	Winner	Runners Up
2011	Kim Clijsters	Li Na
2012	Victoria Azarenka	Maria Sharapova
2013	Victoria Azarenka	Li Na
2014	Li Na	Dominika Cibulkova
2015	Serena Williams	Maria Sharapova
2016	Angelique Kerber	Serena Williams
2017	Serena Williams	Venus Williams
2018	Caroline Wozniacki	Simona Halep
2019	Naomi Osaka	Petra Kvitova
2020	Sofia Kenin	Garbine Muguruza
2021	Naomi Osaka	Jennifer Brady

The French Open Championship

French Open Championship began in 1891 and was limited to French players only. In 1897, ladies’ events were also included, and in 1925, non-French players were also allowed to participate. In 1968, French Open Championship became the first Grand Slam tournament to become “open” by allowing professional players to compete. French tournament Open is played on a clay court and playing conditions are tougher as the ball tends to be higher and slower than any other surface. Players need to adopt different strategies and tactics to win. Roger Federer with 13 French Open titles to his name is known as the King of Clay. Chris Evert is the only woman so far to have won seven French Open titles.

List of French Open Championship Winners Male (2011-2021)

Year	Winner	Runners Up
2011	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer
2012	Rafael Nadal	Novak Djokovic
2013	Rafael Nadal	David Ferrer
2014	Rafael Nadal	Novak Djokovic
2015	Stan Wawrinka	Novak Djokovic
2016	Novak Djokovic	Andy Murray
2017	Rafael Nadal	Stan Wawrinka
2018	Rafael Nadal	Dominic Thiem
2019	Rafael Nadal	Dominic Thiem
2020	Rafael Nadal	Novak Djokovic
2021	Novak Djokovic	Stefanos Tsitsipas

List of French Open Championship Winners Female (2011-2021)

Year	Winners	Runners Up
2011	Li Na	Francesca Schiavone
2012	Maria Sharapova	Sara Errani
2013	Serena Williams	Maria Sharapova
2014	Maria Sharapova	Simona Halep
2015	Serena Williams	Lucie Safarova
2016	Gabrine Muguruza	Serena Williams
2017	Jelena Ostapenko	Simona Halep
2018	Simona Halep	Sloane Stephens
2019	Ashleigh Barty	Marketa Vondrousova
2020	Iga Swiatek	Sofia Kenin
2021	Barbora Krejcikova	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Wimbledon Championship

The All-England Championship popularly known as the Wimbledon Championship is the third grand slam event. It got its name from Wimbledon, the place where the event is held. Wimbledon grand slam championship is also the oldest as it started in 1877. The event takes place in late June and early July. It is the only grand slam event played on a natural grass court. Women’s events of the Wimbledon tennis championship started in 1884. Initially, the Wimbledon event was for amateur players only but in 1968, it was opened for professionals as well. Roger Federer holds the record for most Wimbledon Championship wins with 8 titles.  Pete Sampras has seven Wimbledon Championship wins to his record while Novak Djokovic has won the prestigious title 6 times. Bjorn Borg first made history with five consecutive wins in the Wimbledon Championship.

Among women, Martina Navratilova has the most wins 9 to her credit including six consecutive victories in Wimbledon Championship.  Steffi Graf and Serena Williams have won the Wimbledon Championship title seven times each respectively.

List of Winners of Wimbledon Championship Men (2011-2021)

Year	Winner	Runners Up
2011	Novak Djokovic	Rafael Nadal
2012	Roger Federer	Andy Murray
2013	Andy Murray	Novak Djokovic
2014	Novak Djokovic	Roger Federer
2015	Novak Djokovic	Roger Federer
2016	Andy Murray	Milos Raonic
2017	Roger Federer	Marin Cilic
2018	Novak Djokovic	Kevin Anderson
2019	Novak Djokovic	Roger Federer
2020	NO TOURNAMENT DUE TO	COVID-19 PANDEMIC
2021	Novak Djokovic	Matteo Berrettini

Winners of Wimbledon Championship Women (2011-2021)

Year	Winner	Runners Up
2011	Petra Kvitova	Maria Sharapova
2012	Serena Williams	Agnieszka Radwanska
2013	Marion Bartoli	Sabine Lisicki
2014	Petra Kvitova	Eugenie Bouchard
2015	Serena Williams	Garbine Muguruza
2016	Serena Williams	Angelique Kerber
2017	Garbine Muguruza	Venus Williams
2018	Angelique Kerber	Serena Williams
2019	Simona Halep	Serena Williams
2020	NO EVENTS DUE TO	COVID-19 PANDEMIC
2021	Ashleigh Barty	Karolina Pliskova

US Open Championship

The US Open Championship is the last event of the Grand Slam and takes place in New York (USA) every year. The event begins every year since 1881 on the last Monday of August and continues till the second week of September. Initially, it was played on grass and then clay court, and finally, in 1978, the acrylic hard court was introduced. There are many interesting facts associated with US Open Championship such as it is the only Grand Slam event to offer equal prize money to both men and women. US Open championship is also the first Grand Slam Championship to feature night matches. It is also the first Grand Slam event that allows players to challenge line calls using the Hawk-Eye system.

Among men, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer have won the US Open Championship title five times each. Chis Evert and Serena Williams have the honor of winning the women’s singles title six times each.

List of US Open Champion Winners (2011-2021)

Year	Winner	Runners Up
2011	Novak Djokovic	Rafael Nadal
2012	Andy Murray	Novak Djokovic
2013	Rafael Nadal	Novak Djokovic
2014	Marin Cilic	Kei Nishikori
2015	Novak Djokovic	Roger Federer
2016	Stan Wawrinka	Novak Djokovic
2017	Rafael Nadal	Kevin Anderson
2018	Novak Djokovic	Juan Martin del Potro
2019	Rafael Nadal	Daniil Medvedev
2020	Dominic Thiem	Alexander Zverev
2021	Daniil Medvedev	Novak Djokovic

List of US Open Championship Winners (2011-2021)

Year	Winner	Runners Up
2011	Samantha Stosur	Serena Williams
2012	Serena Williams	Victoria Azarenka
2013	Serena Williams	Victoria Azarenka
2014	Serena Williams	Caroline Wozniacki
2015	Flavia Pennetta	Roberta Vinci
2016	Angelique Kerber	Karolina Pliskova
2017	Solane Stephens	Madison Keys
2018	Naomi Osaka	Serena Williams
2019	Bianca Andreescu	Serena Williams
2020	Naomi Osaka	Victoria Azarenka
2021	Emma Raducanu	Leylah Fernandez