martina navratilova has the most grand slam titles in women's tennis.
who has the most grand slam titles in women's tennis?
martina navratilova
before the beginning of the open era in april 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tennis tournaments, including the four grand slams. wimbledon, the oldest of the majors, was founded in 1877, followed by the us open in 1881, the french open in 1891, and the australian open in 1905. beginning in 1905 and continuing to the present day, all four majors have been played yearly, with the exception of the two world wars and 1986 for the australian open. the australian open is the 1st major of the year (january), followed by the french open (may–june), wimbledon (june–july), and us open (august–september). there was no prize money and players were compensated for travel expenses only. a player who wins all four current major tournaments, as a single or as part of a doubles team, in the same calendar year is said to have achieved the "grand slam". if the player wins all four consecutively, but not in the same calendar year, it is called a "non-calendar year grand slam". winning all four at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "career grand slam". winning the four majors and a gold medal in tennis at the summer olympics has been called a "golden slam" since 1988. winning all four plus gold at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "career golden slam". winning the year-end championship also having won a golden slam is referred to as a "super slam". winning the four majors in all three disciplines a player is eligible for – singles, doubles, and mixed doubles – is considered winning a "boxed set" of grand slam titles. the current grand slams are the four most prestigious tournaments in the world held every year, they are distinguished by participation from almost every top player and by their two-week duration, 128-player draw in women's singles. it's extremely rare for a player to win all four events, "the grand slam", in one calendar year. this was only achieved three times since 1888 by maureen connolly, margaret court, and steffi graf, the latter of whom stands alone in winning the "golden slam".
all-time tennis records – women's singles
novak djokovic has won 16 grand slam tournament titles and stands at the third place for all time list, and has won the career grand slam by winning all four majors at least once. in the 2015–2016 tennis seasons, djokovic also won 4 consecutive grand slam titles, a feat not achieved since 1969. in addition, djokovic is the only player to hold all four grand slam titles at once on three different surfaces. djokovic's grand slam tournament titles include 10 on hard courts, 5 on grass, and 1 on clay. nadal has won 18 grand slam tournament titles and is second on the all-time list and has 12 on clay, 4 on hard courts, and 2 on grass. both also won the career grand slam, and nadal is the youngest player in the open era to achieve this feat, aged 24.
djokovic–nadal rivalry