Some people talk about a Grand Slam having to be in the same calendar year. I am not sure that this is fair since the season is so much longer now than when Rod Laver achieved a calendar slam in 1969. I think the definition should be all four consecutively regardless of the year. What do other people think?

I would stick with the definition of a true Grand Slam meaning that you win all four GS events in the same year. Winning them consecutively, but not in the same year, is almost the same accomplishment, though, especially if RG and Wimbledon are won back to back.

I also think that we need to stick with the "official" definition. It makes the Grand Slam an amazing achievement.

I would prefer to stick with the original definition as within a calendar year. However I agree with the OP that it's much harder these days than it was in the 1960s. I don't know whether it's the depth in the game, the number of tournaments, or the surface specialization that didn't seem to be such a factor in the old days. :shrug:

Actually, it's probably a combination of all of those factors, jaytee. Not to diminish the feat of players like Laver, because even then it was not easy to win a slam, but I do think it's much harder in the modern era.

Its certainly much harder to win even a Career Slam nowadays than ever before. So amazing achievement Agassi, few players will match that.
We'll just have to wait and see if anyone can ever achieve the Calendar Slam. Or even what Federer was attempting , the Consecutive Slam.
So theres three categories of Grand Slam, why not call them Bronze, Silver and Gold just like at the Olympics ? :P :)

Well, there already is the Golden Slam, which is what I think that Steffi won back in 1988 (it was 1988, wasn't it?), through winning all 4 slams plus the Olympics??

So that could be a good starting point..

:)


The term Grand Slam was first used in 1933, by the American journalist John Kieran. In describing the attempt that year by Jack Crawford to win all four titles, he compared it with "a countered and vulnerable grand slam in bridge". Kieran singled out these four titles as being the biggest in tennis because, at the time, they were the main international championships held in the only four countries who had won the Davis Cup. Crawford failed to achieve the Grand Slam that year as he lost in the US Championships final to Fred Perry. It wasn't until 1938 that Donald Budge became the first person to achieve the Grand Slam.

The expression Grand Slam, initially used to describe the winning of the tennis major events, was later incorporated by other sports, notably golf, to describe a similar accomplishment.