Omari Gates
Australian tennis players have won 166 Grand Slam titles, the second-highest of any country. Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, and Margaret Court are some of the most successful Australian tennis players. Rod Laver is one of only two men to have won a calendar Grand Slam, and the only person to have done it twice, in 1962 and 1969. Roy Emerson's record of 28 Grand Slam titles (12 singles and 16 doubles) remains unbroken in men's tennis. Margaret Court has won 24 women's singles Grand Slam titles, the most in history, along with 19 women's doubles and 21 mixed doubles titles, for a total of 64 major titles.
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What You'll Learn
Margaret Court's 64 titles
Margaret Court is an Australian tennis player who dominated women's competition in the 1960s. She is the only player in tennis history to complete a double boxed set, winning an impressive 64 Grand Slam tournament titles. Court is one of only three players in history, and the first woman, to have won the "boxed set", consisting of every major title (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles). She is also one of only six tennis players to win a double career Grand Slam in two disciplines.
Court's powerful serve and volley, exceptional endurance, and commitment to fitness training helped her win a record 64 Grand Slam titles. Her height and reach advantages made her formidable at the net, and she was considered unusually mobile for her size. Court played an all-attack, serve-and-volley style, dominating conservative defensive players.
Court won her first major title at the age of 17, claiming the 1960 Australian Championships (now the Australian Open). This was the first of seven consecutive national titles. In 1962, she became the first Australian woman to win a Grand Slam tournament abroad, claiming the French and US Championships. The following year, she became the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon. Court achieved a career Grand Slam in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, winning 24 singles titles, 19 doubles titles, and 21 mixed doubles titles.
In 1970, Court became just the second woman to complete the Grand Slam, winning all four major singles titles. She continued to win many tournaments after the birth of her first child in 1972, including the US Open in 1973. Court's overall win-loss record at the Australian Championships/Australian Open was an impressive 61-3 (95.3%) in 14 years. She also accumulated a total of 35 wins with the Australian Fed Cup team, tying for the third-most ever from an Australian.
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Rod Laver's two Grand Slams
Rod Laver is an Australian former professional tennis player whose career spanned from 1956 to 1977. He was ranked as the world number one professional player from 1965 to 1969 and, by some sources, also in 1964 and 1970. During his career, he won eleven Grand Slam singles titles and eight Pro Slam singles titles.
Laver is the only tennis player to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year twice, in 1962 and 1969. In 1962, Laver became the first male player since Don Budge in 1938 to win all four Grand Slam singles titles. He won an additional 18 titles that year, for a total of 22. Among those titles were the Italian and German Championships, giving Laver the "'clay court triple'" of Paris, Rome, and Hamburg, a feat previously only achieved by Lew Hoad in 1956.
Laver's biggest challenge in winning the 1962 Grand Slam was the French Championships on slow clay. Here, he won three consecutive five-set matches, including a quarterfinal against Martin Mulligan, in which Laver saved a match point in the fourth set with a backhand volley. In the final, Laver lost the first two sets and was down 0-3 in the fourth set before coming back to defeat Roy Emerson.
Laver's second Grand Slam win in 1969 remains the only time a man has achieved this feat in the Open Era. After the Open Era began in 1968, Laver won five more major championships, bringing his final Grand Slam singles title count to eleven. In addition to his Grand Slam successes, Laver won eight major doubles titles and contributed to five Davis Cup titles for Australia.
The Rod Laver Arena, the main show court of the Australian Open, and the Laver Cup tournament are named after him, reflecting his extraordinary achievements in tennis.
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Roy Emerson's doubles record
Roy Emerson is an Australian former tennis player who won 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles with five different partners. He won his first Grand Slam doubles title in 1959 at Wimbledon, playing with Neale Fraser. From 1960 to 1965, he won six consecutive French Open men's doubles titles. He won his final Grand Slam doubles title in 1971, again at Wimbledon, this time partnering with Rod Laver.
Emerson is the only male player to have won a Career Grand Slam in both singles and doubles, and the first male player to win 12 Majors. He had 10 straight victories in Grand Slam tournament finals, an all-time record. He was also a member of a record eight Davis Cup-winning teams between 1959 and 1967.
In the late 1970s, Emerson served as a player-coach for the Boston Lobsters in World Team Tennis. He mostly played doubles, often teaming up with fellow Australian Tony Roche.
Emerson was a tall, slim, and athletic player, known for his quickness and ability to cover the court. He had a serve-and-volley style of play and was able to adapt to different surfaces, enjoying success on all of them. His fitness, attributed to his farm upbringing and rigorous training regimen, allowed him to excel in five-set majors.
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Margaret Court's 'boxed set'
Margaret Court is one of the greatest Australian tennis players of all time. She is one of only three players in history, all women, to have won the "boxed set", consisting of every major title: singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Court is the only player to have achieved a double boxed set and the only player to win all 12 Grand Slam events at least twice. She is also one of only six tennis players to win a double career Grand Slam in two disciplines.
Court amassed a list of tournament wins that is unrivalled. She collected 64 major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, including two shared Australian mixed titles. Her closest rival, Martina Navratilova, has 59. Court is the only woman to have achieved the mixed doubles Grand Slam, which she did twice. She won more than half of the Grand Slam singles tournaments she played (24 out of 47).
In 1970, Margaret Court became the second woman to complete the Grand Slam, winning Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open, and the French Open in the same year. Only Steffi Graf has since emulated the feat. Court is the only player to have achieved the Grand Slam in doubles as well as singles, winning all four events with fellow Australian Kenneth Fletcher in 1963. She was also ranked world No. 1 six times between 1962 and 1973.
Court's overall win-loss record at the Australian Championships/Australian Open was 61–3 (95.3%) in 14 years. Her win total includes one walkover but does not include any first-round byes. She won the Australian Open singles title in 1960 and the next six years consecutively. Court also won the Wimbledon singles in 1963, 1965, and 1970; the U.S. Open singles in 1962, 1965, 1969, 1970, and 1973; and the French Open singles in 1962, 1969, 1970, and 1973.
Margaret Court has been the subject of some controversy due to her public statements on gay people and her speaking out against homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
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Rod Laver's Grand Slam return
Rod Laver is considered one of the greatest Australian tennis players of all time. Nicknamed "Rocket" by Davis Cup captain Harry Hopman, Laver was ranked as the world number 1 professional player for five years from 1965 to 1969. He was also ranked as the number 1 amateur in 1961 and 1962.
In 1962, Laver became the second man to complete the Grand Slam as an amateur. However, his career took a temporary hit when he joined the professional tennis circuit in 1963, resulting in a ban from competing in amateur Grand Slams until the Open Era commenced with the 1968 French Open. This marked the beginning of Laver's remarkable comeback, as he returned to the Grand Slam arena and won Wimbledon in 1968, followed by the Australian Open in 1969.
Laver's Grand Slam return in 1968 was particularly significant. After a five-year absence from the Grand Slam scene, he made a triumphant comeback, defeating Tony Roche to reclaim his Wimbledon title. This victory was not only a testament to Laver's skill but also a validation of his decision to turn professional, which had resulted in his exile from the Grand Slam circuit. By winning Wimbledon in 1968, Laver not only regained his championship title but also solidified his standing in the evolving landscape of professional tennis.
Laver's success continued into 1969, a year considered by many to be his finest. He became the only player to win the Grand Slam twice, completing the feat as a professional. This second Grand Slam included victories in the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open, showcasing his dominance across all major tennis tournaments. In addition to his Grand Slam achievements, Laver won eight Pro major titles, including the Professional Grand Slam in 1967, further cementing his legacy as one of the sport's all-time greats.
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Frequently asked questions
Margaret Court has won 24 women's singles Grand Slam titles, the most in history. She has a total of 64 major titles, including 19 women's doubles and 21 mixed doubles titles.
Roy Emerson has won 28 Grand Slam titles (12 singles and 16 doubles), a record for men's tennis.
Rod Laver has won 11 Grand Slam titles and eight Pro Majors. He is one of only two men to have won a calendar Grand Slam, and the only person to have done it twice. Margaret Smith Court, Ken Rosewall, Frank Sedgman, Ashley Cooper, and Lew Hoad are some other notable Australian tennis players with multiple Grand Slam titles.
