Winning a single Grand Slam title is enough to define most tennis careers. Winning all four? That’s the kind of achievement that turns great players into legends.
The Career Grand Slam is one of the rarest accomplishments in tennis and proof that a player can dominate on every surface, in every condition, and against every style of opponent. It’s not just about talent. It’s about adaptability.
To complete the Career Grand Slam, a player must win all four major singles tournaments at least once during their career: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Sounds simple enough. In reality, it’s one of the hardest things to do in sport.
Why Is the Career Grand Slam So Difficult?
The biggest challenge is the surfaces. Each Grand Slam asks completely different questions of a player’s game.
At Roland Garros, players battle through long rallies on slow clay courts that reward patience, heavy topspin, and incredible movement. Wimbledon flips everything upside down with slick grass courts, lower bounces, and lightning-fast reactions. Meanwhile, the hard courts of Melbourne and New York demand all-around versatility.
That’s why the list of players to complete the Career Grand Slam is surprisingly short.
Men’s Singles Players To Complete the Career Grand Slam
| Player | Completed In | Final Slam Won |
|---|---|---|
| Fred Perry | 1935 | French Championships |
| Don Budge | 1938 | French Championships |
| Rod Laver | 1962 | French Championships |
| Roy Emerson | 1964 | French Championships |
| Andre Agassi | 1999 | French Open |
| Roger Federer | 2009 | French Open |
| Rafael Nadal | 2010 | US Open |
| Novak Djokovic | 2016 | French Open |
| Carlos Alcaraz | 2026 | Australian Open |
One thing immediately jumps out from that list: the French Open has historically been the biggest obstacle. For Federer, Agassi, Djokovic, Laver, Budge, Emerson, and Perry, Roland Garros was the final piece of the puzzle. That tells you everything you need to know about how brutal clay-court tennis can be.
And if achieving it once wasn’t difficult enough, Novak Djokovic went even further, becoming the first man in the Open Era to complete the Career Grand Slam three separate times. With a total of 24 Grand Slam titles to his name, it shows his incredible ability to dominate on all surfaces and to be able to do it across a decade in tennis.
Women’s Singles Players To Complete the Career Grand Slam
| Player | Completed In | Final Slam Won |
| Maureen Connolly | 1953 | Wimbledon |
| Doris Hart | 1954 | French Championships |
| Shirley Fry | 1957 | French Championships |
| Margaret Court | 1963 | US Championships |
| Billie Jean King | 1972 | French Open |
| Chris Evert | 1983 | Australian Open |
| Martina Navratilova | 1984 | French Open |
| Steffi Graf | 1988 | Australian Open |
| Serena Williams | 2003 | French Open |
| Maria Sharapova | 2012 | French Open |
Maria Sharapova is probably the most surprising name on that list. In the early stages of her career, she even described herself as a “cow on ice” when it came to clay. There was no doubt that she favoured faster surfaces like hard courts and grass, but she adapted her game and became one of the most successful clay court players of her time.
Some players didn’t just complete the Career Grand Slam once, they built entire eras of dominance around it. Serena Williams and Steffi Graf both won every major multiple times across their careers, while Graf remains the only player ever to complete the Calendar Golden Slam.
Roland Garros: The Toughest Challenge
If there’s one tournament that has stopped more all-time greats from completing the Career Grand Slam than any other, it’s the French Open.
Clay exposes every weakness. Big servers lose some of their power. Short points disappear. Patience becomes essential. Even movement changes completely.
That’s why players like Pete Sampras and John McEnroe never managed to conquer Roland Garros despite dominating everywhere else.
For years, the French Open was also the one title missing from Federer’s collection. Then came 2009. With Rafael Nadal unexpectedly knocked out early, Federer seized his chance and finally completed the set, which is a moment many fans still consider one of the defining achievements of his career.
Active Players Still Chasing the Career Grand Slam
Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner is probably the closest active men’s player to achieving the Career Grand Slam. With wins at the Australian Open and US Open in 2024 and Wimbledon in 2025, there’s just one missing piece: Roland Garros.
He claim painfully close to getting his hands on the French Open title in 2025. So close that he had three Championship points, but a very late comeback from Carlos Alcaraz in what turned out to be one of the greatest Grand Slam finals of all time, made the dream disappear.
This year though, he’s the heavy favourite to win the title. The Italian is in red hot form, having won 6 masters titles back-to back to become the youngest player to complete the Career Golden Masters. And with Carlos Alcaraz out of the picture through injury, this is probably his best opportunity to strike.
Iga Świątek
For the women’s game, Iga Świątek is one of the most obvious active contenders.
She has 6 Grand Slam titles under her belt, having conquered Wimbledon in 2025. She has already dominated Roland Garros and is potentially one of the favourites to win it again this year. But for Iga, the problem isn’t clay, it’s hard courts. The missing piece for her is the Australian Open.
She fell short again this year, losing out in the semifinals to the eventual winner Madison Keys in a very close third set Championship tie-break. Will she get another chance in 2027?
What’s the Difference Between a Career Grand Slam and a Calendar Grand Slam?
This is where tennis terminology gets confusing fast.
| Achievement | Meaning |
| Career Grand Slam | Win all 4 majors during career |
| Calendar Grand Slam | Win all 4 majors in the same year |
| Career Golden Slam | All 4 majors + Olympic gold |
| Calendar Golden Slam | All 4 majors + Olympic gold in same year |
Only Steffi Graf has ever completed the Calendar Golden Slam, which is probably one of the most ridiculous achievements in tennis history.
FAQs
Has anyone won all four Grand Slams in one year?
Yes, that’s known as the Calendar Grand Slam. Don Budge was the first player to achieve it back in 1938, followed by Maureen Connolly in 1953 who became the first woman to capture all four slams in the same year. Rod Laver completed twice, once in 1962 as an amateur player, before repeating it in 1969 at the start of the Open Era.
More recently, Steffi Graf completed it in 1988 and even went on to compete the Career Golden Slam winning an Olympic gold medal in the same year.
Who was the youngest player to complete the Career Grand Slam?
Until recently it was Rafael Nadal, who completed it at just 24 years. However, Carlos Alcaraz broke that record by winning the Australian Open in 2026 at just 22 years, 8 months, and 27 days old.
