A tennis Grand Slam is one of the four biggest tournaments in the sport: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. They offer the most ranking points, the biggest prize money, and the most prestige, so a player’s career is largely measured by how many of them they win. This guide explains how the four majors work and what makes each one different.
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The next one is the 2027 Australian Open, which runs from January 11 to 31 at Melbourne Park. For results and news through the season, follow our tennis news.
What are the four Grand Slam tournaments?
The four majors are spread across the tennis calendar, from January to September, and each is played on a different type of court or in a different climate. Each one runs for about two weeks of main-draw play.
| Tournament | Location | Surface | Usual dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | Melbourne Park, Melbourne | Hard court | January |
| French Open (Roland Garros) | Stade Roland Garros, Paris | Clay | Late May to early June |
| Wimbledon | All England Club, London | Grass | Late June to mid-July |
| US Open | Flushing Meadows, New York | Hard court | Late August to early September |
Why the surface matters
Each surface changes how the game is played. Clay is slow and produces a high bounce, which rewards long rallies and patient baseline play. Grass is fast and the ball stays low, which suits big servers and players who attack the net, while hard courts sit in between and favor all-round games.
That is why players often have a favorite major. Winning on all three surfaces is one of the hardest things in tennis.
What makes each major unique
Each tournament has its own traditions. The French Open is officially called Roland Garros, after the French aviator its stadium is named for, while Wimbledon is the oldest of the four and requires players to dress almost entirely in white. The US Open is known for its night sessions under the lights in New York, and the Australian Open is often called the “Happy Slam” for its relaxed summer atmosphere.
How Grand Slam matches are played
The majors have bigger draws and longer matches than regular tour events. Each singles draw has 128 players, so a champion must win seven matches in two weeks.
| Feature | Men’s singles | Women’s singles |
|---|---|---|
| Draw size | 128 players | 128 players |
| Match format | Best of five sets | Best of three sets |
| Matches to win the title | 7 | 7 |
| Final set at 6-6 | 10-point tiebreak | 10-point tiebreak |
Since 2022, all four majors have used the same rule for deciding sets: when the final set reaches 6-6, players play a 10-point tiebreak. Our guide to how tennis scoring works explains sets and tiebreaks in detail.
Key takeaway
Men’s best-of-five matches at the majors can last four or five hours, which gives the stronger player more time to recover from a slow start than in best-of-three tour events, where one bad set can decide a match.
Line calling
Most majors now use electronic line calling instead of human line judges. In 2026, the French Open was the only one of the four to keep human line judges.
Australian Open 2027: key dates
The first major of 2027 starts with an Opening Week of qualifying, practice sessions, and fan events before the main draw begins. Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina return as the defending singles champions.
| Stage | Dates (2027) |
|---|---|
| Opening Week (qualifying and events) | January 11 to 16 |
| Main draw begins | Sunday, January 17 |
| Women’s singles final | Saturday, January 30 |
| Men’s singles final | Sunday, January 31 |
The 2026 Grand Slam champions
The 2026 season produced a mix of established stars and first-time champions. Carlos Alcaraz won the Australian Open to complete a career Grand Slam, Alexander Zverev won his first two majors in Paris and New York, and Elena Rybakina won two of the four women’s titles.
| Tournament | Men’s champion | Women’s champion |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | Carlos Alcaraz (def. Novak Djokovic) | Elena Rybakina (def. Aryna Sabalenka) |
| French Open | Alexander Zverev (def. Flavio Cobolli) | Mirra Andreeva (def. Maja Chwalinska) |
| Wimbledon | Jannik Sinner (def. Alexander Zverev) | Linda Noskova (def. Karolina Muchova) |
| US Open | Alexander Zverev (def. Ben Shelton) | Elena Rybakina (def. Aryna Sabalenka) |
Several of the women’s results set new marks. Andreeva became the youngest French Open women’s champion since Monica Seles in 1992, and Noskova became the youngest Wimbledon women’s champion since Petra Kvitova in 2011.
What is a career Grand Slam and a calendar Grand Slam?
Winning all four majors is the sport’s greatest achievement, and there are two ways to do it. A career Grand Slam means winning each of the four tournaments at least once at any point in a career. A calendar Grand Slam means winning all four in the same year.
The calendar Grand Slam is extremely rare. The last man to do it was Rod Laver in 1969, and the last woman was Steffi Graf in 1988. No player has completed a calendar Grand Slam in men’s or women’s singles since, although wheelchair players such as Diede de Groot have achieved it.
| Record (Open Era) | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Most men’s Grand Slam singles titles | Novak Djokovic | 24 |
| Most women’s Grand Slam singles titles | Serena Williams | 23 |
| Most Australian Open men’s titles | Novak Djokovic | 10 |
Grand Slams and the rankings
A Grand Slam title is worth 2,000 ranking points on both the ATP and WTA tours, double the points for winning a Masters 1000 or WTA 1000 event. Even reaching the second week earns more points than many smaller tournaments, so the majors shape the rankings more than any other events. Rankings count results from the previous 52 weeks, so a player must defend those points at the same major a year later or watch them drop off.
For Filipino fans, that’s why the majors matter so much for Alex Eala, whose ranking decides her seeding and draw at each one. Our Alex Eala next match page tracks her schedule and ranking through the season.
Watching the Grand Slams from the Philippines
Because the four majors are played on three continents, match times in the Philippines vary widely through the year. Times below are a general guide, since the exact schedule depends on the order of play each day.
| Tournament | Time difference | Typical PHT viewing |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | Melbourne is 3 hours ahead of PHT in January | Mornings to late evenings |
| French Open | Paris is 6 hours behind PHT | Late afternoons to early mornings |
| Wimbledon | London is 7 hours behind PHT | Evenings to early mornings |
| US Open | New York is 12 hours behind PHT | Late nights to midday |
The Australian Open is the easiest major to follow from the Philippines, since most matches fall in Philippine daytime and evening. The US Open is the hardest, with night sessions finishing during the Philippine morning.
Betting on the Grand Slams
The majors offer the widest range of tennis betting markets, from match winners and set betting to outright tournament winners. The longer best-of-five format in men’s matches also changes set and total games markets compared with regular tour events. Our tennis betting guide explains how these markets work. Betting is for adults aged 21 and over.
