What if...? These are the tennis players who fell one title short of the Career Grand Slam

Andrés Tomás Rico - 21 Sep 2026 | 16:03
ATP WTA Pete Sampras Monica Seles Boris Becker stan wawrinka Stefan Edberg Justine Henin grand slams

Winning all four Grand Slams in tennis has been the achievement of very few; however, great tennis legends have come close to accomplishing it.
 

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What if...? These are the tennis players who fell just one title short of the Career Grand Slam. Photo: Getty Images

The world of tennis, like the rest of sports, is as capricious as it is fair. It will never crown someone who does not deserve it, but sometimes it has prevented great champions from extending their reigns. However, a few chosen ones have managed to overcome the randomness of tennis and have succeeded in lifting the four most prestigious trophies: Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and US Open. In other words, completing the career Grand Slam.

In fact, the historic list features the greatest tennis players in history, both in men's and women's tennis: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic,Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Steffi Graf,Carlos Alcaraz, Andre Agassi, Rod Laver, Maria Sharapova, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova.

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This is the list of tennis players who only needed to win one of the four Grand Slams

However, other great legends who fell just short managed to reign in three of the four Grand Slams but never succeeded in adding the final piece to the prestigious puzzle. One of the most remembered cases, and one that the tennis world mourns the most, is Pete Sampras. The 14-time Grand Slam champion was for many, and until the emergence of the Big-3, the best player of all time, but he was never able to show his best version on the clay courts of Roland Garros, with a semifinal in 1996 being his best result.

The clay of Paris has always been one of the toughest challenges for those specialists in hard and grass courts, unable to apply the serve-and-volley game on a surface where long and slow exchanges from the baseline predominated. Boris Becker, a winner of 6 Grand Slams, or Jimmy Connors, an 8-time Grand Slam winner, also did not achieve it, despite both playing finals at Roland Garros, having played three and four semifinals, respectively.

Stefan Edberg (six Grand Slams) was also cast out of the career Grand Slam Olympus for failing to triumph in Paris. The same happened to Martina Hingis (five), Lindsay Davenport (three), Angelique Kerber (three), Arthur Ashe (three), Virginia Wade (three), and John Newcombe (seven).

But if the land of Paris presents a challenge, the exquisite and complex grass of Wimbledon is no less so. Legends like Ivan Lendl, who won eight Grand Slams and lost two finals in London, Mats Wilander, with seven majors and two quarterfinals, or Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam winner, fell short as well. Guillermo Vilas also missed out on the golden trophy of London, despite having won four majors; just like Ken Rosewall, who won eight, four in the Open era and four in the amateur era.

In the women's sphere, Justine Henin, who won seven majors and was a finalist twice at Wimbledon, and Mónica Seles, a nine-time Grand Slam winner and finalist once at the London major.

Meanwhile, the two hard court Grand Slams have a much shorter list. The greatest in history have conquered both Melbourne and New York. Still, Ashleigh Barty, that thunder that appeared and disappeared from women's tennis, only lacked the US Open in her brief but intense career, which concluded with three Grand Slams. The same luck befell her compatriot Evonne Goolagong, who missed the American cherry on top.

Sinner, Rybakina, and Swiatek are close to achieving the career Grand Slam

As of today, there are also active players who are just a breath away from achieving the career Grand Slam. The one closest and whom no one doubts, although in the world of tennis, one never knows, is Jannik Sinner. The Italian, who has already won five Grand Slams, only needs Roland Garros to reach the pinnacle of tennis, and in 2025 he was only one point away from accomplishing it.

Elena Rybakina also lacks the same piece of hardware. The freshly minted US Open champion only needs it to quietly enter the prestigious list. Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek, always considered a clay court player, only has the US Open left to complete her dominance on the three surfaces of tennis.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, ¿Y si…? Estos son los tenistas que se quedaron a un título del Career Grand Slam