The 8 women to complete the ‘Surface Slam’: Iga Swiatek joins exclusive club
If Iga Swiatek had not already cemented her place as a tennis great, she did so with an emphatic Wimbledon triumph this fortnight.
The Pole dropped just one set on her way to the title at the All England Club this past fortnight, with a historic 6-0, 6-0 triumph over Amanda Anisimova in Saturday’s final.
It is a sixth Grand Slam title overall for Swiatek, though the first to come on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
And, as a result of her maiden SW19 victory, she has joined an exclusive list of women to win Grand Slam titles on all three surfaces: hard, clay, and grass.
Here, we look at the esteemed company Swiatek now finds herself in.
Chris Evert
Tennis icon Evert completed the ‘Surface Slam’ at the 1978 US Open, the first ever Grand Slam tournament to be held on hard courts.
The American had already won two Wimbledon titles on grass and five majors on clay, two at Roland Garros and three at the US Open, before her victory over Pam Shriver in the 1978 women’s singles final.
Evert would end her career with 10 clay-court majors (seven at Roland Garros, three at the US Open), five on grass courts (three Wimbledons, two Australian Opens) and three US Open hard-court titles.
Martina Navratilova
Navratilova matched leading rival Evert on 18 Grand Slam titles, and was the second woman to complete the ‘Surface Slam’.
Having won four Wimbledon titles and an Australian Open crown on grass, and the 1982 French Open title on clay, triumph at the 1983 US Open saw the Czech-born American complete the surface sweep.
Navratilova won 12 of her 18 majors on grass (Nine Wimbledon titles, three Australian Open titles), four on hard (four US Open titles), and two titles on clay at Roland Garros.
Hana Mandlikova
Former world No 3 Mandlikova never completed the Career Grand Slam, twice losing the final at Wimbledon, though she was a two-time grass-court major champion Down Under.
Mandlikova lifted her first major title at the Australian Open in 1980 and her final Slam came in Melbourne in 1987, with French and US Open triumphs in between.
The Czech lifted the Roland Garros title on clay in 1981, before completing the ‘Surface Slam’ with victory at the 1985 US Open.
Steffi Graf
Graf is the only player in tennis history to have won all four majors on at least four occasions, and is the last player to complete the Calendar Grand Slam.
After victory at the 1987 French Open on clay, the German would win the 1988 Australian Open on hard courts, and then, after defending her Paris title, completed the ‘Surface Slam’ at Wimbledon that summer.
In total, Graf would win nine hard-court majors (four Australian Open, five US Open), seven Wimbledon titles on grass, and six Roland Garros titles on clay.
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Serena Williams
No woman in the Open Era can match Williams’ haul of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, and the American was the first woman in the 21st century to complete the ‘Surface Slam’.
After winning her first major at the 1999 US Open, the start of her first ‘Serena Slam’ saw her win both the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in 2002, completing the sweep.
Williams won a record 13 majors on hard courts (Seven Australian Opens and six US Opens) as well as seven titles on Wimbledon’s grass courts, and three clay titles at the French Open.
Maria Sharapova
Still the last woman to complete the Career Grand Slam, Sharapova’s five major titles were spread across the three different surfaces.
The former world No 1 lifted her sole Wimbledon title on grass as a 17-year-old in 2004, before hard-court success at the 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open.
Sharapova completed the Career Grand Slam and ‘Surface Slam’ at the French Open in 2012, and she would win the title again in 2014.
Ashleigh Barty
Australian star Barty won three Grand Slam singles titles in her career, and all of them came on different surfaces.
After lifting her first singles major on clay at the 2019 French Open, Barty would then triumph on the grass courts of Wimbledon in 2021.
That was followed by a memorable victory on the hard courts of her home Grand Slam at the 2022 Australian Open, in what proved to be the final tournament of her career.
Iga Swiatek
Swiatek’s sixth major title propels her up the all-time pecking order and ensures that she has now triumphed on all three surfaces.
The Pole is probably most celebrated for her clay-court prowess, and four of his six Grand Slam victories have come at Roland Garros.
However, she has also previously triumphed at the US Open back in 2022, before Saturday’s Wimbledon win saw her complete the ‘Surface Slam’.
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