Winning a Grand Slam in tennis represents the pinnacle of a player’s career. Climbing this mountain, however, is not easily done and most players will get to the end of their careers without ever making the summit. Put another way, there have been 948 Grand Slam tournaments since the first was staged in 1877, and only 282 champions in both the men’s and women’s games since.
The reason for the discrepancy in the ratio of Grand Slams and eventual champions throughout history is that some players win more than others. The indomitable Novak Djokovic is a good example of this phenomenon.
Indeed, the Serb is on the verge of winning his 25th career Grand Slam – that is, at least, according to the latest odds on tennis for the Australian Open winner market where the Serb is priced at 10/11 to go all the way.
Of course, while a lot can happen over the two-week tournament in Melbourne, it’s worth noting that the tennis tipsters are confident in their predictions that Djokovic will win a record 11th Australian Open Grand Slam title in 2024.
It would be an unprecedented achievement if the Serb were to win Down Under but the wider point is that these tournaments are not easily won on account of the fact that generational talents like Djokovic make it extremely difficult for other players to enjoy a piece of the pie.
🏆🙏🏼2️⃣4️⃣💜💛 #USOpen pic.twitter.com/HqWvI14E1c
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) September 11, 2023
In most cases, only the very best can write their names into Grand Slam history. These are some of the other reasons why winning a Grand Slam is one of the ultimate tests in the whole of sports.
Physical and mental endurance
There are four Grand Slam tournaments each year: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. These tournaments typically last two weeks with players who progress competing every other day. The turnaround time is often less than 48 hours which puts significant strain on a player’s body.
While players have a sizable entourage these days which includes the world’s best physiotherapists to help soothe aches and pains, it is much more challenging to ensure that players are mentally ready to go again so soon afterward. This is especially the case if players are coming off the back of a win that requires considerable mental effort to get through.
In the aftermath of these all-or-nothing victories, players can often feel flat and they might only be in the opening rounds of the competition still. This was the case when John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut in the first round of Wimbledon 2010 in a match that lasted 11 hours and five minutes.
Longest matches in #Wimbledon history…
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2018
⏱11hrs 5mins – J Isner d. N Mahut (2010)
⏱6hrs 36mins – K Anderson d. J Isner (2018)
⏱6hrs 9mins – M Knowles/ D Nestor d. S Aspelin/ T Perry (2006)#TakeOnHistory pic.twitter.com/fkVljLkcmS
Despite the high of being inducted into the Guinness World Record for the longest tennis match in history, Isner would limp out of Wimbledon in his next game which lasted just 74 minutes.
While Isner’s match is an extreme example, when you consider that to successfully run the Grand Slam gauntlet, players have to win seven games from round one to the final, you’re all of a sudden left with no doubt about the Herculean effort required to mentally reset after every match.
As initially touched on, this challenge often proves too much for the majority of players and makes winning a Grand Slam one of the hardest tasks in sports. Essentially, without an iron will to push through the physical discomfort and the mental fortitude to start from scratch, winning a Grand Slam will remain a distant dream for the majority of tour professionals.
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