A career Gold Slam means winning all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic gold at least once. This feat is one of the most difficult tasks in tennis. Roger Federer, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker and Venus Williams have all failed to achieve it, but we take a look at the five players who have completed a career singles Golden Slam in the Open Era:
Novak Djokovic
The Serbian started his journey towards a career Golden Slam with a victory at the 2008 Australian Open. He won Wimbledon and the US Open for the first time in 2011. He had to wait a bit to get his first title at Roland Garros, but he finally got it in 2016 to complete his career.
An Olympic gold medal was the only missing piece of Djokovic’s Golden Slam puzzle. It eluded him for a long time, but he achieved his dream on Sunday in Paris. As the top seed, the 37-year-old did not drop a set throughout the tournament. In the final, he beat second seed Carlos Alcaraz in two tiebreakers.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams became the fourth player to win a career Golden Slam when she beat Maria Sharapova to win her only singles gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The American won her first titles at the Australian Open in 2003, Roland Garros in 2002, Wimbledon in 2002 and the US Open in 1999.
Additionally, Williams is the only woman to have achieved a career Gold Slam in both singles and doubles. She has won three doubles gold medals with her sister Venus: Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008, London 2012. The sisters have also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is the youngest player to win a career Golden Slam. The Spaniard began his Golden Slam journey with a victory at the 2005 French Open. He went on to win Wimbledon in 2008 and win the singles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Nadal won his first Australian Open title in 2009. He achieved a career Golden Slam by beating Djokovic in the US Open final in 2010. The Spaniard was 24 when he conquered it.
Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi is the first tennis player to win a career Golden Slam. He achieved this by winning his first and only French Open in 1999. His career Gold Slams include the 1995 Australian Open, 1992 Wimbledon and the 1994 US Open.
Agassi won the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. As the top seed, he defeated Spaniard Sergi Bruguera to become the first and so far only American to win a singles gold medal.
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf became the first tennis player to win all four TBS titles and Olympic gold. The German won all five tournaments during her monumental 1988 season, becoming the only one with a career Golden Slam. In Grand Slam finals, Graf defeated Chris Evert at the Australian Open, Natasha Zvereva at Roland Garros, Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon and Gabriela Sabatini at the US Open. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Graf faced Sabatini of Argentina again and won in straight sets to win her only gold medal. The German won her second Olympic medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but it was already silver.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
