In today’s weekend blog, I am back on the sports; this time it is Tennis.
Friends, you know that there are four major tennis tournaments in the world known as Grand Slams. They are the Australian Open in Melbourne, the French Open in Paris, Wimbledon in London, and the US Open in New York. Presently US and Australian Open are played on artificial hard surfaces, the French Open on Clay, and Wimbledon on Grass. Do you know that till the 1970s/early 1980s even the US and Australian Open were played on the grass surface? Now only Wimbledon is played on the grass surface. Presently, Grass court Tennis season is going on and Wimbledon is scheduled to start from 1st July 2024. In the present days most of the tennis tournaments are played on the artificial hard courts through out the year, except for clay season which starts in May and ends with French Open; and grass season which starts after Clay season in June and ends a with Wimbledon.
Here, we look at the top 10 men with the highest win records on grass in the Open Era:
10 Andy Murray– He holds a 118-29 (80.3%) record on the grass court matches to date, making it his best surface by win rate. He has won 8 of the 10 grass court finals he has played, having won three titles at Wimbledon, a record 5 at Queen’s Club, as well as the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
9 Alex Meterveli– he compiled a 119-27 (81.5%) record on the grass court in the open era. The Soviet player secured 8 grass court tournament victories,, but his most notable result on the surface was his loss to Jan Kodes in 1973 Wimbledon final.
8 Bjorn Borg– He won 72 of his 88 matches (81.8%) on grass courts and claimed 7 titles from the 8 finals he reached on the surface. He won all five of his Wimbledon titles in consecutive years from 1976-1980, while his only loss in grass court final was against John McEnroe in 1981 Wimbledon final.
7 Boris Becker– His record at the grass court is 116-25 (82.3%). He won seven grass court titles, all of which came from Wimbledon (1985,1986, 1989) and Queen’s club, from 12 finals on this surface.
6 Jimmy Connors– His record is 185-38 (83%) on the grass surface. He won 9 titles on grass surface, and also reached 17 finals. He won Australian
Open (1974), Wimbledon (1974, 1982) and the US open(1974) on grass courts.
5 Pete Sampras– His record on grass court is 101-20 (83.5%), making it hiss best surface in terms of win percentage. He won 10 grass court titles, seven of which came at Wimbledon between 1993 and 2000, from a total of 13 finals on the surface.
4 Rod Laver– in the open era his record is 95-17 (84.8%) matches he played on grass courts, and won eight tournaments. He won Wimbledon (1968 and 1969) the Australian Open (1969) and the US open(1969).
3 John McEnroe– His record at this surface is 121-20 (85.82%), and won 8 tournaments on this surface. He secured 8 titles on this surface, including 3 at Wimbledon, while he reached 13 singles finals overall on this surface.
2 Novak Djokovic– His record on the grass surface is 115-19 (85.82%), his highest winning percentage on a single surface. He has won 8 titles on grass, seven of which have come at Wimbledon, and has also been runner-up at five tournaments on this surface.
1 Roger Federer– His record on grass surface is 192-29 (86.9%), he has won most matches than any other male player in the open era. He won 19 grass court titles including 8 Wimbledon crowns-both of which are men’s records- from a total of 27 finals.
Here are women’s player with most grass-court singles title in the open era:
10 Steffi Graff-She has won 7 of her 107 WTA singles titles on grass and all of these came at Wimbledon (1988, 1989, 1991,1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996).
Joint 7 Serena Williams– She won 8 of her 73 WTA singles titles at grass court tournaments, with 7 of these victories coming at Wimbledon (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016. Her other grass court title also came at Wimbledon (Olympics 2012) when she defeated Maria Sharapova.
Joint 7 Virginia Wade– She had won 8 Open Era grass court singles titles, while one of her three grand slam titles came at Wimbledon in 1977, and became the last British woman to win single title at Wimbledon.
Joint 7 Ann Jones– She won 33 singles title in the open era, out of which 8 came from grass surface. She won only Wimbledon title on her 14th and final singles appearance at her home in 1969.
6 Sue Baker– She won 10 singles title on grass courts, with 6 of these coming at official WTA events in Surbiton, Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Manchester an Sydney. Her best result at grand slam tournaments played on grass was reaching the semi-finals at both the Australian Open (1975, 1977) and Wimbledon (1977).
5 Chris Evert– She won 17 of her 157 WTA singles titles at grass court tournaments, with 5 of 18 grand slams coming on this surface. She won Wimbledon three times (1974, 1976, and 1981) and the Australian Open twice (1982, 1984).
4 Billie Jean King– She won 22 grass-court singles titles in the open era, while she secured 7 of her eight open era grand slam singles titles on grass. She won 4 Wimbledon (1968, 1972, 1973, and 1975) and three US Open (1971, 1972, and 1974) in this period.
3 Martina Navratilova– She claimed 32 of her record 167 WTA singles titles on grass courts, while 12 of her major singles crowns were on this surface. She won Wimbledon 9 times (1978, 1979, 1982-1987, and 1990) and the Australian Open on three occasion (1981, 1983, and 1985).
2 Evonne Goologong– she secured 38 grass court singles titles with 6 of her 7 grand slam crowns coming on grass surface. She won Wimbledon twice (1971, 1980), the Australian open four times (1974-1977).
1 Margaret Court– She collected 46 of 96 singles titles she won in the open era at grass-court tournaments, with eights of these triumphs coming at Grand slams. She won the Australian four times (1969-71, 1973) Wimbledon once (1970) and the US open three times (1196-70, 1973) during this period.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
21st June 2024