The 7 women to lose in final of all four Grand Slams: Steffi Graf with a career Silver Slam

Shahida Jacobs
Pictured: Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams
From left to right: Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams

Winning a Golden Slam – all four Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal in the same year – is one of the greatest achievements in tennis with Steffi Graf the only player – man or woman – to achieve it.

Graf is also one of only two players in history to win the career Silver Slam as she has finished runner-up at all four majors and at the Olympics with Roger Federer notching up the feat in men’s tennis.

The legendary Graf is also one of seven women to finish runner-up at all four majors.

The likes of Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Monica Seles, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova don’t feature on the list. Court did finish runner-up at all four majors, but only one was in the Open Era, Seles won all four of her Australian Open finals, the French Open is missing from Henin and King’s lists and Sharapova won her one and only US Open final.

Brazil legend Maria Bueno is another who achieved the feat, but that was before the sport turned professional in 1968.

The 7 women to lose in the final of all four Grand Slams:

Evonne Goolagong Cawley

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley lost 11 of her major finals.

The Australian lost three consecutive Australian Open finals from 1971 to 1983, finished runner-up at Roland Garros in 1972, lost Wimbledon finals in 1972, 1975 and 1976 and was denied at the US Open four years in a row from 1973 to 1976.

She nearly achieved the calendar runners-up Slam in 1972 as she lost the final of the first three majors of the year, but lost early at the US Open.

Martina Navratilova

The Czechoslovakia-born great has a hat-trick when it comes to finishing runners-up at all four Grand Slam as she lost the Australian Open final in 1975, 1982 and 1987, lost three Roland Garros finals against Chris Evert and one against Steffi Graf, was beaten twice by Graf in the Wimbledon final and once by Conchita Martinez and also lost four US Open finals against four different players.

But she won’t complain as she won 18 of her 32 major finals and completed two career Slams.

Chris Evert

Chris Evert is the woman with the most major runners-up trophies so no surprise that she also features on the career runners-up Grand Slam list.

She is a four-time Australian Open runner-up, lost two French Open finals, was beaten six times in the Wimbledon final with four of those against Navratilova and also has three runners-up trophies at the US Open to go with her 18 Grand Slam titles.

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario

Spanish legend Arantxa Sánchez Vicario won three titles at Roland Garros and one at the US Open.

While she was unable to complete a career Grand Slam, she did manage to achieve the runners-up feat as she was twice denied in the final of the Australian Open, lost three times in the French Open final, was twice beaten in the Wimbledon final and also lost the 1992 US Open final.

Facts & Stats Features

The 3 men to lose in the final of all four Grand Slams: Roger Federer only one to complete career Silver Slam

The 9 US women to win the Australian Open title: ft Madison Keys, Serena Williams

Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf is the proud owner of a Golden Slam – winning all four Grand Slams and Olympic gold in the same year – and also has a career Silver Slam.

She achieved the Golden Slam in 1988 while she completed the Silver Slam when she finished runner-up in the singles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Besides her 22 Grand Slam titles, Graf finished runner-up at the Australian Open in 1993, lost three Roland Garros finals, suffered two defeats in the final at Wimbledon and was denied three times in the US Open final.

Venus Williams

There is no doubt that Venus Williams would have owned a career Grand Slam if she hadn’t competed at the same time as Serena as she lost seven finals against her sister.

And yes, Serena denied her at all four Grand Slams with those coming in four consecutive tournaments (from 2002 French Open until 2003 Australian Open).

In total, Venus finished runner-up twice at the Australian Open (2003 and 2017), once at Roland Garros (2002), four times at Wimbledon and twice at the US Open.

Serena Williams

All-time great Serena Williams completed her set of runners-up trophies in 2016 when she lost the Australian Open final against Angelique Kerber and the French Open showpiece match against Garbine Muguruzu. Those are her only final losses at Melbourne Park and Roland Garros.

But she also suffered defeats in four Wimbledon finals and four times at the US Open with her last four Grand Slam finals with two of those coming at S19 in 2018 and 2019 and two at Flushing Meadows in the same years.