The 8 women to win multiple Grand Slam titles as teenagers: Monica Seles No 1
Monica Seles won an extraordinary eight Grand Slam singles titles as a teenager, an Open Era record for either a male or female player.
In the professional age, only eight women have won multiple Grand Slam singles titles before turning 20 – with only one having done so in the 21st century.
=4) Hana Mandlikova – Two Grand Slam titles
Mandlikova’s four Grand Slam titles were spread across a seven-year spell, though the Czech was a teenager for her first two victories in Melbourne and Paris.
She was just 18 when she defeated Wendy Turnbull for the first of her two Australian Open titles in 1980, before beating Sylvia Hanika to win the French Open title aged 19 the following summer.
=4) Evonne Goolagong – Two Grand Slam titles
A true tennis icon, seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Goolagong won consecutive major titles before her 20th birthday in 1971.
The Australian beat Helen Gourlay to win her first Grand Slam title at the 1971 French Open, before downing Margaret Court just a few weeks later to triumph at Wimbledon – in her last Slam as a teenager.
=4) Tracy Austin – Two Grand Slam titles
One of the greatest teen prodigies in tennis history, both of Austin’s Grand Slam singles titles came before she even turned 19.
The US star was just 16 when she downed Chris Evert to lift the US Open in 1979, and two years later, she defeated Martina Navratilova for her second and final major victory at her home Slam.
=4) Chris Evert – Two Grand Slam titles
After losing her first three Grand Slam finals, tennis legend Evert sealed her place as one of the biggest stars in tennis with French Open and Wimbledon triumphs in 1974.
Months before her 20th birthday, Evert eased past Olga Morozova to claim her first of a record seven titles in Paris, before again beating the Russian in the Wimbledon final just weeks later.
=4) Maria Sharapova – Two Grand Slam titles
Sharapova is the only woman in the 21st century to win multiple majors as a teenager, with the first two of her five Grand Slam wins coming before she turned 20 in 2007.
The tennis superstar was famously just 17 when she stunned Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final, and a 19-year-old Sharapova then beat Justine Henin at the 2006 US Open.
3) Martina Hingis – Five Grand Slam titles
Former world No 1 Hingis won five Grand Slam singles titles, all of them coming before she celebrated her 19th birthday in 1999.
The Swiss defeated Mary Pierce for her first major at the 1997 Australian Open, and went on to beat Jana Novotna and Venus Williams in the Wimbledon and US Open finals later that year.
Hingis would then beat Conchita Martinez to lift the 1998 Australian Open crown, and completed a ‘three-peat’ 12 months later with victory over Amelie Mauresmo.
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2) Steffi Graf – Six Grand Slam titles
One of the most dominant players in tennis history, Graf had already won six of her 22 Grand Slam titles by the time her teenage years had come to an end.
The German memorably beat Martina Navratilova to lift the 1987 French Open title, and was just 19 years old when she completed her iconic ‘Calendar Golden Slam’ in 1988.
Graf was still only 19 when she beat Helena Sukova in the 1989 Australian Open final, a fifth straight Slam for the world No 1 at the time.
1) Monica Seles – Eight Grand Slam titles
Well out in front is tennis icon Seles, who was at the absolute peak of her powers as a teenager in the early 1990s.
She was just 16 when she beat Graf in the 1990 French Open final, and she would triumph at the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open in 1991 – only missing Wimbledon due to injury.
Seles would successfully defend all three of those titles in 1992 and then beat Graf for her eighth Slam at the 1993 Australian Open, just months before her tragic stabbing that April.
The former world No 1 would miss her final three Slams as a teenager and would win just one more major following her return two years later.
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