Grand Slam (tennis)

The Grand Slam tournaments, also called majors, are the four most important annual tennis events. They offer the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention, the greatest strength and size of field, and greater number of "best of" sets for men. The Grand Slam itinerary consists of the Australian Open in mid January, the French Open in May and June, Wimbledon in June and July, and the US Open in August and September. Each tournament is played over a period of two weeks. The Australian and United States tournaments are played on hard courts, the French on clay, and Wimbledon on grass. Wimbledon is the oldest, founded in 1877, followed by the US in 1881, the French in 1891, and the Australian in 1905. However, of these four, only Wimbledon was a major before 1924/25, the time when all four became designated Grand Slam tournaments.

The term Grand Slam also, and originally, refers to the achievement of winning all four major championships in a single calendar year within one of the five events: men's and women's singles; men's, women's, and mixed doubles. In doubles, one team may accomplish a Grand Slam playing together or one player may achieve it with different partners. The term "Grand Slam" without qualification refers to winning the four majors in a single calendar year.

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Novak Đoković / Новак Ђоковић, pronounced [nôʋaːk d͡ʑôːkoʋit͡ɕ]; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is generally considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He is coached by former Slovak tennis player Marián Vajda and former German tennis player and six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker.

Djokovic has won 11 Grand Slam singles titles which is ranked fourth in the open era tied with Björn Borg and has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a total of 186 weeks. By winning three Grand Slam titles in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player to win three Grand Slams in a calendar year. He repeated this achievement in 2015. In Grand Slams, Djokovic has won an all-time record six Australian Open titles (tied with Roy Emerson), including an open era record of three consecutive titles from 2011–2013 (the first and only player to achieve this). He has also won three Wimbledon titles and two US Open titles.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer (German: [ˈfeːdərər] born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). His accomplishments in professional tennis cause him to be popularly regarded as the greatest tennis player of all time. Federer turned professional in 1998 and has been continuously ranked in the top 10 since October 2002.

Federer holds several records of the Open Era: holding the world No. 1 position for 302 weeks (including 237 consecutive weeks); winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles; reaching each Grand Slam final at least five times (an all-time record); and reaching the Wimbledon final ten times. He is among the seven men (and among the four in Open Era) to capture a career Grand Slam. Federer shares an Open Era record for most titles at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras (7) and at the US Open with Jimmy Connors and Sampras (5).

Federer has reached 27 men's singles Grand Slam finals, including 10 in a row from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships to the 2007 US Open, both statistics being records. He also appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon through to the 2010 Australian Open. He reached the semifinals at 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2016 Australian Open, he played in a record 65th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, reached a record 47th Grand Slam quarterfinal and a record 39th Grand Slam semifinal. Earlier at the 2015 US Open, he reached a record 27th Grand Slam final. Also earlier at the 2013 French Open, Federer reached a record 36th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Federer has won the most matches in Grand Slams (302) and is the first to record 65+ wins at each Grand Slam tournament.

Andy Murray

Andrew Barron "Andy" Murray OBE (born 15 May 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player, currently ranked World No. 2. He started playing tennis at the age of three, entered his first competitive tournament at age five and was playing league tennis by the time he was eight. He has reached at least the quarter-finals of all Grand Slam tournaments he has participated in since 2011, with the exception of the 2015 US Open. When he was 15, he moved to Barcelona to train at the Sánchez-Casal Academy. He won the junior US Open in 2004 and turned professional the following year. Murray has been ranked as British No. 1 since 27 February 2006. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the ATP for the first time on 16 April 2007, and reached a career peak of World No. 2 on 17 August 2009.