The origins of the Grand Slam tennis archive date back several years. The four Grand Slam tournaments are the pinnacle of the game, so all the Grand Slam tennis that has taken place since the first Wimbledon championships in 1877 is of relevance. Although the final may be the most watched match of the tournament, crucial events have often taken place earlier on. There have been a number of championships where the eventual winner was match point down earlier in the event. How many times has a hot favourite lost early or a memorable five set match occurred in the first week? And what of all those hundreds of players that have never reached the latter stages? They are as much a part of the event as the champion and their matches can often affect the eventual outcome of the event.
Researching the archive has been a long process. Hunting down old tennis magazines which contain Grand Slam results has formed the main part of the research. Two books (both out of print) have been useful also. 100 Wimbledon Championships by John Barrett was invaluable for early Wimbledon championship draws. Tennis Observed by Bill Talbert, now a very scarce book, was similarly invaluable for early US Championship draws. Andrew Tasiopoulos kindly provided a source for the pre-war Australian championships, which I typed and put onto the archive a year after the archive first came online.
Typing up all the results for the archive into a consistent format took many months. Each match result contains the player's first initial and surname and the match score (where known). This website does not include results for women's singles or doubles events. It is more difficult to find women's results (Tennis Observed contains men's singles results only for instance). It has only been since the 1930s that the women's singles has been seen as an event of any relevance at all. Pre-war tennis reports in newspapers often listed men's singles as 'Singles' and women's singles as 'Women's singles', which was indicitive of the stature of both events. There were frequently much fewer entrants in women's draws at Grand Slam events than in the men's events and the standard of women's play was much inferior. It was only in the 1970s that the women began to reach a par with the men. Doubles results are difficult to track down. Although, in the early days, there was as much interest in men's doubles as in men's singles, the interest fluctuated depending on which teams were around at the time. Wimbledon doubles events have always received far more publicity than doubles events at the other Grand Slams. In recent years Grand Slam doubles events have been minor events in comparison to the singles competitions.
Although the Grand Slams have always been the premier events in tennis, they have not always contained the best male players. In fact the term 'open' was only strictly accurate from 1968 onwards, when the game became open to professionals for the first time. From 1931 to 1967, many of the game's top amateurs turned professional and were not permitted to play in the Grand Slam events again. Bill Tilden was the first major player to turn pro, at the end of the 1930 season. Then Cochet, Vines and Perry followed. Then Budge and Riggs. Pancho Gonzales turned pro aged just 21, having won two Grand Slam titles. He went on to dominate the pro game for years and would have won many Grand Slam titles had he been an amateur. Although he won all four Grand Slam titles in the same year twice, Rod Laver spent five of his best years as a pro unable to compete at the Grand Slams. Ken Rosewall spent eleven of his best years as a pro, yet still managed to win eight Grand Slam titles. One should always bear this in mind when talking about the stature of modern players such as Sampras and Federer. Had the game always been open, Laver, Rosewall and Gonzales would all have won more Grand Slam titles than current record holder Pete Sampras. However, whilst the pro game may have had some of the best players, it had no tournaments of the stature of the Grand Slams. In order to be offered a large paycheque to turn pro, a player would have to have won the Wimbledon or US championships. Those of lesser stature who turned pro were offered poultry sums in comparison.
Wimbledon began in 1877 and was immediately seen as the premier event in the sport. The U.S. Championships began in 1881 and, like Wimbledon, very quickly established itself as one of the top events. The French championships were first staged in 1891, but entry was restricted to members of French clubs. When it opened its doors to international players in 1925, it soon established itself as one of the major events and the top tournament held on clay courts. The Australian, on the other hand, often struggled to attract top competition. One of the main problems was its' distance from the rest of the tennis playing world.
Before the war air travel was rare and the boat trip to Australasia was a long one. Few foreign players made the trip. However, one that did was J. Donald Budge, who played the tournament in 1938. He set his sights on winning the championships of the four nations that had won the Davis Cup (England, France, U.S. and Australia). When he succeeded in his goal his achievement became known as the 'Grand Slam'. This gave the Australian championships added kudos. It also coincided with a period in which Australia produced many of the world's best players. To win their own championship was always a main goal of all the Australian players. However, when the Australian run of success came to an end in the 1970s, the event declined. The organisers of the Grand Prix circuit awarded the Australian Open low ranking points and the tournament was scheduled over the Christmas period, so top players didn't bother with it. In 1982 none of the top 10 players in the world entered the event. However, from then on, it quickly began to revive. In 1983 the tournament got underway in late November and top players returned to play in it. In 1988 the tournament moved to a plush new stadium at Melbourne Park. It now boasted the best facilities of any of the Grand Slam events and by the early 1990s all the top players played in the Australian, the prize money was on a par with the other Grand Slams and so were the ranking points. Rather than being the weak link of the Slams, the other Grand Slam events now look to emulate the Australian Open. Wimbledon have followed the Australian's example and will soon have a roof over it's centre court. There is pressure on the other two Slams to follow. The Grand Slams are now seen via television and the Internet in virtually every country in the world and are four of the premier sporting events on the calendar. Long may they continue to flourish.
