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72-604: The tournament predates the WTA Tour and started in 1972 as the championship tournament of the Tour's predecessor: the Virginia Slims Circuit . Since 2003, the tournament has used a unique format not seen in other WTA Tour events: the players are separated into two groups of four, within which they each play three round-robin matches. The top two players or teams from each group after the round-robin stage move on to

144-434: A knock-out format in the semifinals and final to determine the champion. The WTA Finals has the largest prize money and ranking points after the majors. The most successful player in both singles and doubles history is Martina Navratilova , with eight singles and 13 doubles titles. In the tournament's current format, the champion can earn a maximum of 1,500 ranking points, if they win the event as an undefeated champion in

216-487: A Career Grand Slam. Four men (Emerson, Laver, Djokovic, and Nadal) and five women (Court, Evert, Navratilova, Graf, Williams) have achieved the feat more than once over the course of their careers. Only six players have completed a Career Grand Slam in both singles and doubles: one male (Roy Emerson) and five females (Margaret Court, Doris Hart, Shirley Fry Irvin, Martina Navratilova, and Serena Williams). A "Boxed Set" refers to winning one of every possible major title in

288-660: A Grand Slam in most years and most disciplines since 1925, it was not possible from 1940 to 1945 because of interruptions at Wimbledon, the Australian and French Championships due to World War II, the years from 1970 to 1985 when there was no Australian tournament in mixed doubles, 1986 when there was no Australian Open, and 2020 when Wimbledon was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Grand Slam of tennis comprises these four major tournaments: Junior events Best of five sets: Best of three sets: The Australian Open

360-441: A grand slam on the courts, doubled and vulnerable." The term 'Grand Slam' originates from the card game contract bridge , where it is used for winning all possible tricks . In golf it was used for the first time to describe a total of four wins, specifically Bobby Jones ' achievement of winning the four major golf tournaments of the era, which he accomplished in 1930. "Grand Slam" or "Slam" has since also become used to refer to

432-723: A head in 1967. The first tournament open to professional tennis players played on Centre Court at Wimbledon, the Wimbledon Pro , was staged by the All England Lawn Tennis Club in August, offering a prize fund of US$ 45,000. The tournament was deemed very successful, with packed crowds and the play seen as being of higher quality than the amateur-only Wimbledon final held two weeks earlier. This success in combination with large signings of top players to two new professional tours— World Championship Tennis and

504-811: A head in 1970, when most tournaments offered four times as much prize money to men than they did to women. At the 1970 Italian Open , men's singles champion Ilie Năstase was paid US$ 3,500 while women's singles champion King received just US$ 600. On top of this, the USLTA failed to organise any tournaments for women in 1970. King and eight other female tennis players – Americans Rosemary Casals , Nancy Richey , Peaches Bartkowicz , Kristy Pigeon , Valerie Ziegenfuss , and Julie Heldman ; and Australians Kerry Melville Reid and Judy Tegart Dalton  – decided to enlist World Tennis magazine publisher Gladys Heldman to help negotiate for greater equality in prize money and provide valuable public relations assistance. All

576-479: A major tournament in 1923. Today, the event has draws that host 256 singles players, 128 doubles teams and 32 mixed doubles teams, with the total prize money for the 2020 tournament being US$ 53,400,000, and a US television viewership of 700,000. From 2004-2023, the tournament was preceded by the US Open Series , composed of North American hardcourt professional tournaments that lead up to and culminate with

648-728: A non-calendar-year Grand Slam by holding the four major titles at the same time but not in the calendar year. Players who completed a Grand Slam within the same streak as a non-calendar-year Grand Slam are not included here. The career achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline is termed a "Career Grand Slam", or "Career Slam". In singles, eight men ( Fred Perry , Don Budge , Roy Emerson , Rod Laver , Andre Agassi , Roger Federer , Rafael Nadal , and Novak Djokovic ) and ten women ( Maureen Connolly , Doris Hart , Shirley Fry Irvin , Margaret Court , Billie Jean King , Chris Evert , Martina Navratilova , Steffi Graf , Serena Williams , and Maria Sharapova ) have completed

720-605: A per match basis. Since 2014, the singles and doubles winners of the tournament receive the Billie Jean King Trophy and the Martina Navratilova trophy, respectively. Note: Active players indicated in bold . Winning three or two out of the four Year-ending championships since its inception in 1972: WTA Championships/Finals, Series-Ending Championships, Grand Slam Cup, WTA Tournament of Champions/Elite Trophy indicated in bold . Winning

792-574: A round-robin format in two groups of four. The winners and runners-up of each group advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners progress through to the finals where they compete for the title. To qualify for the WTA Finals, players compete throughout the year in WTA events throughout the world, as well as the ITF-sanctioned events, such as the four Grand Slams. Players earn ranking points on

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864-501: Is organized by a committee of management consisting of nineteen members, with twelve being club members and the remaining seven nominated by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). As the world's oldest tennis event, it is widely regarded as the most prestigious tennis tournament, and it is known for its commitment to longstanding traditions and guidelines. It is one of few tournaments and the only Grand Slam event that

936-488: Is referred to as a "non-calendar-year Grand Slam", while winning the four majors at any point during the course of a career is known as a "Career Grand Slam". The term Grand Slam is also attributed to the Grand Slam tournaments , usually referred to as Majors , and they are the world's four most important annual professional tennis tournaments. They offer the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention,

1008-508: Is still played on grass courts, tennis's original surface, and where "lawn tennis" originated in the 1800s . Players are required to wear all-white attire during matches, and they are referred to as "Gentlemen" and "Ladies". There is also a tradition where the players are asked to bow or curtsy towards the Royal Box upon entering or leaving Centre Court when either the Prince of Wales or

1080-907: Is the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, played annually in late January and early February. The inaugural edition took place in November 1905 on the grass courts of the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in Melbourne , Australia. It was held as the Australasian Championships until 1927 and thereafter as the Australian Championships until the onset of the Open Era in 1969, passing through various venues in Australia and New Zealand before settling at

1152-514: Is the only Grand Slam tournament played on a red clay surface. It is generally considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world. The World Hard Court Championships was considered the premier clay championship in France from 1912–1923 (apart from one year held in Belgium) as it admitted international competitors, and it is therefore often seen as the true precursor to

1224-444: Is the only Grand Slam tournament to have been played every year since its inception. In 1997, Arthur Ashe Stadium , the largest tennis stadium in the world with a capacity of 23,771 spectators, was opened. It is named after Arthur Ashe , the winner of the 1968 tournament—the first in which professionals were allowed to compete. Over the years, the tournament has pioneered changes that other tournaments later adopted, including

1296-542: Is the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, played annually in late June and early July. It was first held in 1877 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club , at the time located off Nursery Road in Wimbledon, London , England. The tournament has always been contested at this club, which moved to its present site off Church Road in 1922 in order to increase its attendance capacity. Wimbledon

1368-642: The Australasian , Austrian, Belgian , Spanish , and Swiss associations. They subsequently formed the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), holding their first meeting in 1913, joined by the Danish, German , Dutch , Russian , South African, and Swedish organizations. Voting rights were divided based on the perceived importance of the individual countries, with Great Britain's Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) receiving

1440-809: The Australian Open in January, the French Open from late May to early June, Wimbledon in late June to early July, and the US Open in late August to early September, with each played over two weeks. The Australian and the United States tournaments are played on hard courts , the French on clay , and Wimbledon on grass . Wimbledon is the oldest tournament, founded in 1877, followed by the US in 1881,

1512-672: The Christmas and holiday season , but it has since grown to become one of the biggest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere and the highest attended Grand Slam tournament, with more than 1,020,000 people attending the 2024 edition . Nicknamed the "Happy Slam" and billed as "the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific", it has become known for its modernity and innovation, being the first Grand Slam tournament to feature indoor play and install retractable roofs on its main courts,

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1584-520: The ILTF 's Women's Grand Prix circuit and become the WTA Tour . Grand Slam (tennis) The Grand Slam in tennis is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in a calendar year . In doubles, a Grand Slam may be achieved as a team or as an individual with different partners. Winning all four major championships consecutively but not within the same calendar year

1656-539: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) began offering a $ 1 million bonus to any singles player to win the four majors consecutively regardless the tournaments order of winning them while the Men's International Professional Tennis Council , which was the governing body of men's professional tennis at the time, stated that 'Grand Slam' need not necessarily be won in the same year. This revision by

1728-727: The Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne between 1972 and 1987. Since 1988, it has been played on the hard courts of the Melbourne Park sports complex, which currently uses GreenSet as its court manufacturer. Managed by Tennis Australia , formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia (LTAA), the tournament struggled until the mid-1980s to attract the top international players due to its distance from Europe and America and proximity to

1800-635: The National Tennis League —convinced the LTA on the need for open tennis. After a British proposal for this at the annual ILTF meeting was voted down, the LTA revolted, and in its own annual meeting in December it voted overwhelmingly to admit players of all statuses to the 1968 Wimbledon Championships and other future tournaments in Britain, "come hell or high water". The eventual backing of

1872-603: The Robinsons fruit drink brand since 1935. The US Open is the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year, played annually in late August and early September. It was first held in August 1881 on grass courts at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island , United States. The tournament changed venues in its early years, with each discipline continuing to be held separately at various venues until 1923, when

1944-554: The professional majors . By the 1950s, largely due to efforts of player/promoter Jack Kramer , this lucrative parallel circuit was luring in most of the star amateurs on the men's side, much to the ire of the ILTF and organizers of the Grand Slam tournaments. It was an open secret that the top players who remained as amateurs were receiving undeclared under-the-table payments from tournament promoters, an arrangement tolerated by their national tennis associations to dissuade them from joining

2016-488: The "Original 9" went ahead, with Casals defeating Dalton in the final 5–7, 6–1, 7–5. Heldman, with the assistance of Joe Cullman of Philip Morris , then offered US$ 5,000 out of her own pocket to allow the "Original 9" to sign token $ 1 contracts and set up their own tour of eight professional tournaments in 1970. The tour was sponsored by Virginia Slims . This independent women's professional tennis circuit provided more equal prize money than had been provided previously by

2088-420: The 'Grand Slam'." Combining the Grand Slam and the non-calendar-year Grand Slam, only eight singles players on 11 occasions achieved the feat of being the reigning champion of all four majors, three men ( Don Budge , Rod Laver , Novak Djokovic ) and five women ( Maureen Connolly , Margaret Court , Martina Navratilova , Steffi Graf , Serena Williams ). The following list is for those players who achieved

2160-473: The 2008–2010 editions before passing the flag to Istanbul , Turkey, which hosted the 2011–2013 editions. For the right to host the 2014 edition and beyond, 43 cities expressed an interest before a short list comprising Kazan , Russia ; Mexico City , Mexico ; Singapore ; and Tianjin , China was drawn up in late 2012. Kazan and Mexico City were ruled out in early 2013 before Singapore was announced in May 2013 as

2232-604: The Council and reportedly the ITF was approved by the representatives of the four Grand Slam tournaments at Wimbledon. Neil Amdur and Allison Danzig of the New York Times both criticised the changed definition of the term Grand Slam, whereas in 1985 Hal Bock of Associated Press backed the change. Despite newspaper reports claiming that ITF President Philippe Chatrier had said "the four big events no longer have to be won in

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2304-510: The French Open before 1925. The French championships was first held as an International Lawn Tennis Federation–sanctioned major championship in 1925. Today, it has draws that host 256 singles players, 128 doubles teams and 32 mixed doubles teams, with the total prize money for the 2024 tournament being € 53,478,000. The 2018 edition saw a record attendance of 480,575 spectators. The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known as Wimbledon,

2376-418: The French Open in the 1970s because they were committed to the more profitable pro circuits. In one case, Australian players including Rod Laver , Ken Rosewall and Roy Emerson who had contracts with George MacCall 's National Tennis League were prevented from participating in the 1970 Australian Open because the financial guarantees were deemed insufficient. Although it has been possible to complete

2448-567: The French in 1891 (major in 1925), and the Australian in 1905, but it was not until 1925 that all four were held as officially sanctioned majors. With the growing popularity of tennis, and with the hopes of unifying the sport's rules internationally, the British and French tennis associations started discussions at their Davis Cup tie, and in October 1912 organized a meeting in Paris, joined by

2520-450: The Slam was Grand or Bland or a commercial sham tainted with an asterisk the size of a tennis ball, Martina Navratilova finally did it." When Rafael Nadal was on the verge of completing a non-calendar-year Grand Slam at the 2011 Australian Open , one writer observed, "Most traditionalists insist that the 'Grand Slam' should refer only to winning all four titles in a calendar year, although

2592-572: The US Open itself. The season was organized by the USTA as a way to focus more attention on American tennis tournaments by getting more of them on domestic television. A Grand Slam (sometimes called a Calendar-year Grand Slam, Calendar Grand Slam, or Calendar Slam) is the achievement of winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open in the same year. Margaret Court is

2664-621: The USLTA and other organisations. Despite the USLTA's suspension of the "Original 9" from its tournaments, by the end of the year the Virginia Slims Circuit was able to boost its numbers from nine to forty members, which helped pave the way for the first full year season of the Circuit in 1971. Subsequently, in the aftermath of the creation of the Women's Tennis Association in 1973, the Virginia Slims Circuit would eventually absorb

2736-589: The USNLTA that came after a February 1968 vote forced the ILTF to yield and allow each nation to determine its own legislation regarding amateur and professional players, which it voted for in a special meeting in March 1968. This marked the start of the Open Era of tennis, with its first tournament, the 1968 British Hard Court Championships , beginning three weeks later on 22 April in Bournemouth, England , while

2808-617: The USNLTA to join them, meeting their demand to drop the designation of "World Championships" from all three tournaments in March 1923, which led to the demise of both the World Covered Court Championships and the World Hard Court Championships. A new category of "Official Championships" was created for the national championships of Britain, France, Australia, and the US. By the 1930s, these four tournaments had become well defined as

2880-643: The Virginia Slims Circuit eventually became the basis for the later WTA Tour . The players, dubbed the Original 9 , rebelled against the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) because of the wide inequality between the amount of prize money paid to male tennis players and to female tennis players. The Open era began with the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth in 1968. At

2952-519: The Year-end championships in both singles and doubles in the same year. Note: Titles, won by a team of players from same country , count as one title, not two. The event has a more than 40-year history of corporate sponsorship with the finals named after the sponsoring company. Virginia Slims Circuit The Virginia Slims Circuit was a tennis tour consisting of a group of originally nine female professional players. Formed in 1970,

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3024-412: The basis of the classic Grand Slam i.e., the capture of all four titles in a year. When Martina Navratilova won the 1984 French Open and became the reigning champion of all four women's singles discipline, she was the first player to receive the bonus prize in recognition of her achievement. Some media outlets said that she had won a Grand Slam. Curry Kirkpatrick of Sports Illustrated wrote "Whether

3096-535: The constitution of the International Tennis Federation, the sports governing body, spells out that 'players who hold all four of these titles at the same time achieve the Grand Slam'." In 2012 the ambiguity was resolved, with the ITF's current constitution stating "The Grand Slam titles are the championships of Australia, France, the United States of America and Wimbledon. Players who hold all four of these titles in one calendar year achieve

3168-544: The country each year. The BBC's broadcast of the 1967 edition was among the first colour television broadcasts in the UK. Today, the event has draws that host 256 singles players, 128 doubles teams and 32 mixed doubles teams, with the total prize money for the 2021 tournament being £ 35,016,000, and 500,397 people attending the 2019 edition. The tournament has some of the longest running sponsorships in sports history, having been associated with Slazenger since 1902, and with

3240-459: The doubles draw consisted of four teams; then from 1983 to 2002 the draw increased to eight teams; was decreased back to four teams until 2013 and from the 2014 edition onward it has been made up of eight teams. From its first inception in 1973 until 2018 the doubles draw was played in a single elimination format. In 2015 and from 2019 until the present the doubles draw has been played in a round robin format. Qualified players and teams participate in

3312-814: The event was switched to being held at the end of each year. As a consequence, there were two championships held in 1986. The event was held in Los Angeles , California from 1974 to 1976 before moving to Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1977. With the exception of a one-year move to Oakland, California in 1978, the Championships remained at MSG until 2000. The event then briefly moved to Munich , Germany in 2001. More recently, it moved back to Los Angeles from 2002 to 2005. The 2006 and 2007 editions were held in Madrid , Spain. Doha , Qatar hosted

3384-404: The final of the championships was a best-of-five-sets match, making it the only tournament on the women's tour to have had a best-of-five match at any round of the competition. It was the first time since the 1901 U.S. National Championships that the best-of-five format was used in women's matches. In 1999, the final reverted to being a best-of-three-sets match. From the 1974 until the 1982 edition

3456-497: The first Open Wimbledon , the prize-fund difference was 2.5:1 in favour of men. Billie Jean King won £750 for taking the title, while Rod Laver took £2,000. The total purses of the competitions were £14,800 for men and £5,680 for women. By the 1970s, the pay difference which had been a 2.5:1 ratio between men and women had increased. In 1969, ratios of 5:1 in terms of pay were common at smaller tournaments; by 1970, these figures increased to 8:1 and even 12:1. The situation came to

3528-488: The first open Grand Slam tournament, the 1968 French Open , was held in May. Even after the advent of the Open Era, players including John McEnroe and Chris Evert have pointed out that skipping the Australian Open was the norm because of the travelling distance involved and the inconvenient dates close to Christmas and New Year. There were also the contracted professional players who had to skip some major events like

3600-471: The first to schedule night-time men's singles finals, and the first to substitute electronic line calling for line judges , using an expanded version of the Hawk-Eye technology known as "Hawk-Eye Live". The tournament was designated a major championship by the International Lawn Tennis Federation in 1923. Nowadays, its draws host 256 singles players, 128 doubles teams and 32 mixed doubles teams, with

3672-609: The greatest strength and size of the field and, in recent years, the longest matches for men (best of five sets, best of three for the women). The tournaments are overseen by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), rather than the separate men's and women's tour organizing bodies, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA), but both the ATP and WTA award ranking points based on players' performances in them. The four Grand Slam tournaments are

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3744-639: The inequality between the prize money purses for men and women. Kramer refused, leading the "Original 9" to declare at a press conference held at Forest Hills, New York that they would boycott the Pacific Southwest Championships and play at what would become the first Virginia Slims Circuit event, a US$ 7,500 tournament held in Houston, Texas in September 1970. Despite the USLTA's declaration that it would not sanction this event,

3816-439: The introduction of a tiebreak system to decide the outcome of sets tied at 6–6 in 1970, being the first Grand Slam tournament to award equal prize money to the men's and women's events in 1975, the installation of floodlights in 1975 in order to allow matches to be played at night, and the introduction of instant replay reviews of line calls using the Hawk-Eye computer system in 2006. The ILTF officially designated it as

3888-456: The leaderboard, and the top seven singles players and top seven doubles teams on this leaderboard at the conclusion of the WTA season (as of the Monday following the final regular season tournament) earn the right to compete in the WTA Finals. The eighth spot in the WTA Finals is awarded to the highest-ranking Grand Slam winner (and highest-ranking Grand Slam winning team for doubles) ranked 8-20 in

3960-569: The maximum six votes. Three tournaments were established, being designated as "World Championships": The LTA was given the perpetual right to organize the World Grass Court Championships, to be held at Wimbledon, and France received permission to stage the World Hard Court Championships until 1916. Anthony Wilding of New Zealand won all three of these World Championships in 1913. The United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) expressed disagreement over

4032-619: The monarch are present. The tournament was given the title "World Grass Court Championships" by the International Lawn Tennis Federation between 1912 and 1923, and was designated a major championship following the abolition of the three ILTF World Championships. Since 1937, the BBC has broadcast the tournament on television in the United Kingdom, with the finals shown live and in full on television in

4104-529: The most prestigious in the sport. In 1933, Jack Crawford won the Australian , French , and Wimbledon Championships, leaving him just needing to win the last major event of the year, the U.S. Championships , to become the reigning champion of all four major tournaments, a feat described as "a grand slam" by sports columnist Alan J. Gould of The Reading Eagle , and later that year by John Kieran of The New York Times , who stated that if Crawford won at Forest Hills it "would be something like scoring

4176-403: The new host city for five years. In 2018, the WTA announced the host city from 2019 to 2028 would be Shenzhen , China, however due to COVID-19 and later the disappearance of Peng Shuai , the tournament was cancelled in 2020 and had to find alternative hosting sites from 2020–2023. In April 2024, the WTA announced that the host city from 2024–2026 would be Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. From 1984 to 1998,

4248-442: The only player to complete a Grand Slam in two disciplines, singles and mixed doubles (twice), while wheelchair players Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott have completed one in both the singles and doubles disciplines of their respective classes . The following is a list of players that achieved it. Each entry has an asterisk (*) linking to the tournament of that year. Professional Junior Wheelchair In 1982,

4320-407: The players were putting their tennis careers at risk because the influential USLTA did not back them. Gladys Heldman and the "Original 9" decided to target the Pacific Southwest Championships held in Los Angeles on the grounds that it paid eight times more money to men than it did to women. Heldman attempted to get the tournament chairman, former professional tennis player Jack Kramer , to reduce

4392-409: The power distribution within the ILTF and the designation of "World Championship" status to the British and French tournaments, and thus initially refused to join the Federation, choosing instead to be bystanders to their meetings. By the 1920s, with the World Covered Court Championships failing to attract top players and the growing success of American and Australian tennis, the ILTF worked to convince

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4464-467: The pro ranks and secure their availability for the majors and Davis Cup. This system was derisively referred to as ' shamateurism ' that was seen as undermining the integrity of the sport. Ramanathan Krishnan and Roy Emerson , for example declined large contract offers from the professional promoters, with the latter stating that he was better paid in the amateur circuit. Tensions over this status quo, which had been building for decades, finally came to

4536-419: The round-robin stage. The championships were held for the first time in October 1972 in Boca Raton , Florida ( USA ) as a climactic event at the end of a series of tournaments sponsored by Virginia Slims , called the Virginia Slims Circuit . From 1972 to 1974, the event was held in October, before switching to March from 1975 until 1986. The WTA then decided to adopt a January–November playing season, and so

4608-576: The same calendar year for a player to be recognized as Grand Slam champion", ITF General Secretary David Gray in a 1983 letter claimed that it was never the intention of ITF to alter anything regarding the definition of the classic Grand Slam: There seems to be some confusion. The ITF's only initiative in this matter has been the organisation of the offer of a bonus of $ 1 million to any player who holds all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously ... Despite all that we have read on this matter, it has never been my Committee of Management's intention to alter

4680-550: The singles, doubles, and mixed doubles disciplines throughout a player's career. Only three players have completed a Boxed Set, all females: Doris Hart , Margaret Court , and Martina Navratilova . Court's second Boxed Set, completed in 1969, spans the Amateur and Open Eras, but she later completed a set entirely within the Open Era in 1973. S  Singles D  Doubles X  Mixed doubles The term "Golden Slam" (also known as "Golden Grand Slam", "Calendar-year Golden Slam" or "Calendar Golden Slam") refers to

4752-428: The standings. If no player (and/or doubles team) meets this criterion, then the 8th ranked player (and/or doubles team) in the standings qualifies. In singles, point totals are calculated by combining points from up to 18 tournaments. Of these tournaments, a player's point total is calculated based on the following: the four Grand Slam events, best six results of the seven combined WTA 1000 tournaments , best result of

4824-436: The three non-combined WTA 1000 tournaments, and lastly the next best seven results from all non-125 WTA tournaments. In doubles, point totals are calculated by the 12 best results among any of the non-125 WTA tournaments and Grand Slams. The total prize money for the 2024 WTA Finals is US$ 15,250,000, an increase of 69.44% compared to the 2023 edition. The tables below break down the prize money, participation fees are prorated on

4896-429: The total prize money for the 2024 tournament being A$ 86,500,000. The French Open, also known as Roland Garros, is the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, played annually in late May and early June. A French championships closed event (restricted to members of French clubs) was first held in 1891 on the sand courts of the Societé de Sport de Île de Puteaux, in Puteaux , Île-de-France, and changed venues over

4968-495: The tournament settled at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens , New York City. In 1978, it moved to the hardcourts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows , Queens, where it has been contested ever since. Organized by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), previously known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) until 1920, and as United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) until 1975, it

5040-796: The tournaments individually. The first player to win all four majors in a calendar year and thus complete a Grand Slam was Don Budge in 1938. At the time, only amateur players were allowed to participate in the Grand Slam and other ILTF-sanctioned tournaments. Amateur standing, regulated by the ILTF alongside its associated national federations, forbade players from receiving prize money, earning pay by teaching tennis, being contracted by promoters and playing paid exhibition matches, though expense payments were allowed along with certain monies from sporting goods companies or other benefactors. Amateurs who "defected" to become professional were banned from competing in amateur tournaments and dropped from their national associations. The first major professional tour

5112-414: The years. In 1925 the French championships became open to all amateurs and since 1928 has been held on clay courts at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. Both the venue and the tournament are named "Roland Garros" after the pioneering French aviator . Organized by the Fédération française de tennis (FFT), formerly known as the Fédération Française de Lawn Tennis until 1976, the French Open

5184-426: Was established in 1926 by promoter C. C. Pyle with a troupe of American and French players, most notably Suzanne Lenglen , playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. Over the next decades many other head-to-head tours were run and professional tournaments established, with three, the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships , French Pro Championship and Wembley Championships , standing out, and considered to have been

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