Tennis has four Grand Slams: the Australian Open, the French Open (Roland-Garros), Wimbledon and the US Open. They differ by season and surface, and "Grand Slam" also names the achievement of winning all four.
Which four tennis tournaments are Grand Slams?
| Grand Slam tournament | Host city | Usual season | Court surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open (AO) | Melbourne, Australia | January | Hard court |
| French Open (Roland-Garros, RG) | Paris, France | Late May to early June | Red clay |
| Wimbledon (The Championships) | London, England | Late June to July | Grass |
| US Open | New York, United States | Late August to September | Hard court |
Each edition sets its exact dates.
Roland-Garros and the French Open are the same Paris event. Wimbledon is formally The Championships. AO and RG are common abbreviations in draws and coverage.
Wimbledon staged its first championship in 1877.
The four-major grouping grew from recognized international championships in Australia, France, Britain and the United States during the 1920s.
The ITF's Grand Slam overview identifies the four championships. The Olympics, Davis Cup and ATP Finals are not Grand Slams.
What makes the four Grand Slam tournaments different?
Court surface is the clearest difference among the four majors.
Clay slows the ball and gives a high bounce. Grass is faster, and the ball stays low and can bounce unpredictably. Each surface changes a player's timing, footwork and the way they build points.
Hard courts vary in speed depending on how they are built, so the Australian Open and US Open can feel different on court.
How does a Grand Slam singles tournament work?
A standard Grand Slam singles main draw has up to 128 entrants under the 2026 regulations. It is a knockout: the winner of each match advances and the loser leaves the draw.
In a full 128-player bracket, the stages are:
- First round: 128 entrants, 64 advance.
- Second round: 64 entrants, 32 advance.
- Third round: 32 entrants, 16 advance.
- Fourth round (round of 16): 16 entrants, 8 advance.
- Quarterfinals: 8 entrants, 4 advance.
- Semifinals: 4 entrants, 2 advance.
- Final: 2 entrants, 1 champion.
In a full draw where every match is played, the champion wins seven matches, including the final. A walkover can reduce that number.
Qualifying sits outside this sequence. A qualifier earns a place by coming through qualifying, a wild card receives an entry from the tournament, and a seed is placed in the draw by the tournament's seeding process.
How many sets are played at a Grand Slam?
Under the 2026 Grand Slam rules, men's main-draw singles matches are best of five sets and women's are best of three. Win three sets to take a best-of-five match, two to take a best-of-three.
A men's singles match can end in three straight sets, or run to a fourth or fifth set if neither player has won three.
The deciding-set tiebreak
At 6 games all in the deciding set, the four majors play a 10-point tiebreak. A player needs at least ten points and a two-point lead. A 10-8 score ends the match. At 10-9, play continues until one player leads by two.
The Grand Slam Board jointly adopted this approach in March 2022. The 2026 Grand Slam Rule Book sets out the competition regulations.
These set counts cover men's and women's main-draw singles. Qualifying, doubles, mixed doubles, juniors and wheelchair events have their own format provisions, and their draws have their own arrangements.
What does it mean to win a Grand Slam?
In tennis, "Grand Slam" can mean a single major title or an achievement involving all four tournaments.
| Term | What the player has achieved | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam title | Won one major | A Wimbledon singles champion |
| Calendar Grand Slam | Won all four majors in the same calendar year | Don Budge, 1938 |
| Career Grand Slam | Won each major at least once over a career | Four titles collected across several seasons |
A Career Grand Slam in doubles is a doubles record, not a singles one.
The Grand Slam Board's historical account traces the terminology to Jack Crawford's attempt to win all four in 1933 and Don Budge's successful four-major sweep in 1938.
Why are the Grand Slams so important in professional tennis?
On the 2026 ATP men's singles scale, winning a major awards 2,000 ranking points, compared with 1,000 for an ATP Masters 1000 title. The ATP ranking FAQ provides that comparison for men's singles. The four majors are tennis's officially recognized major championships. They have separate organizing bodies but share one governing framework.
When do the Grand Slams take place, and how can US fans follow them?
The table above gives each tournament's usual season. For an actual match, open the official schedule for that tournament and convert the listed local session time to your US time zone. A Melbourne evening session labeled 7:00 p.m. runs on Melbourne time, so that clock reading differs for someone in Los Angeles, and the date affects the conversion.
A published session start is the scheduled start of the session. A match later in the order of play can begin later if the earlier matches run long.