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Golden Slam

All four majors plus Olympic singles gold; in one calendar year only Steffi Graf has done it (1988), while five players hold the career version.

AlsoGolden Grand Slam, career Golden Slam, calendar Golden Slam, Golden Slams

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In depthWhat is a Grand Slam in tennis? The four majors explained

A Golden Slam is a Grand Slam plus an Olympic gold medal: the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympic singles title, all in the same calendar year. The term dates from 1988, when Steffi Graf won all five; no other able-bodied singles player has repeated it. The career Golden Slam is the same set collected over a career, in any order and over any number of years.

When you see it

The career Golden Slam comes up every Olympic year, because the Games are the piece that even the greatest players may lack: they come once every four years, and a player gets perhaps four or five attempts in a career. Five singles players hold it: Graf, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, who completed his at Paris 2024 at the age of 37 by beating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) in the final, according to the ATP. A career Grand Slam without the gold is the more common achievement. Wheelchair tennis has its own calendar-year Golden Slams, by Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott in 2021, and Wikipedia also records a non-calendar-year version, five in a row across two seasons.

Rule basis

Not a rulebook term.

Related terms

  • Grand Slam · One of the four majors (Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, US Open) or, strictly, the feat of winning all four in one calendar year.
  • Career Grand Slam · Winning all four major singles titles at some point in a career, not necessarily in the same year; nine men and ten women have done it.

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Sources

Material claims in this article are supported by the following sources.

  1. 01Wikipedia · Grand Slam (tennis): the four tournaments, origin of the term, Career, Calendar-year and Golden Slam definitions and achieversretrieved
  2. 02ATP Tour · Djokovic edges Alcaraz to complete career Golden Grand Slampublished · retrieved