Toughest Feat in Tennis

Players often say that the toughest feat in tennis is to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. Alcaraz has a shot at it this year.

It’s a monumental challenge, requiring players to dominate the grueling, high-bouncing clay of Roland Garros—basically the tennis equivalent of playing on quicksand—before swiftly adapting to the slick, fast grass courts of Wimbledon, where the ball skims just above the grass. Here’s a fun trivia question: How many men and women have managed to join this exclusive double club?

Rod Laver pulled it off once in the modern era of tennis, which kicked off in 1968. Bjorn Borg managed it three times. Rafael Nadal did it twice. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have each done it once. That’s it for the men.

For the women, Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Billie Jean King, and Chris Evert each did it once. Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams both did it twice. Steffi Graf, though, achieved it four times. That’s the complete list.