Grand Slam (tennis) - Non-calendar Year Grand Slam (reigning Champion of All Four Majors, Spanning Two Years)

Non-calendar Year Grand Slam (reigning Champion of All Four Majors, Spanning Two Years)

In 1982 the International Tennis Federation (ITF) broadened the definition of the Grand Slam as meaning any four consecutive major victories, including the ones spanning two calendar years. As defined in the constitution of the ITF: "The Grand Slam titles are the championships of Australia, France, the United States of America and Wimbledon. Players who hold all four of these titles at the same time achieve the Grand Slam". As this definition differs from the original definition of the Grand Slam as restricted to a single calendar year, there has been some controversy towards this redefinition in the tennis world. Subsequently, the ITF has distanced itself from the 1982 decision, reverting to the traditional calendar-year definition (when Martina Navratilova won the 1984 French Open to become the reigning champion of all four women's singles, the ITF awarded her $1 million Grand Slam bonus in recognition of her achievement, However subsequently, the ITF abandoned recognizing non-calendar year grand slams).

Combining the Grand Slam and non-calendar year Grand Slam, the total number of times that players achieved the feat (of being the reigning champion in all four majors) expands to 18.

No male players have accomplished a non-calendar year only grand slam, making Laver the most recent male grand-slammer even by this more relaxed definition. Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde reached the final of the 1997 French Open holding all the other three titles, but lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Daniel Vacek; in singles, Roger Federer in 2006 and 2007 and Novak Djokovic in 2012 repeated this, both ultimately losing the Paris final to Rafael Nadal. Nadal himself was denied from achieving this feat, ironically, by his own countryman David Ferrer, who defeated him in the quarterfinal of the Australian Open 2011, with Nadal previously having won the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in 2010.

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