The Grand Slam Tournaments
Thousands of tennis fans travel to tournaments every year to watch the best players in the world take to the court, surrounded by thousands of people. However, it should come as no surprise that the number of fans watching from home on TV or through live streaming is much bigger. The Grand Slam tournaments in tennis are the world's four most important annual professional tennis events. Wimbledon (England) is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass, which is the traditional tennis playing surface.
The Grand Slam prize is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in the same calendar year, also referred to as the "Calendar-year Grand Slam" or "Calendar Slam". In doubles, a team may accomplish the Grand Slam playing together or a player may achieve it with different partners. Winning all four major championships consecutively but not within the same calendar year is referred to as a non-calendar-year Grand Slam while winning the four majors at any point during the course of a career is known as a Career Grand Slam.
The four Grand Slam tournaments are organized dividedly throughout the year. The Australian Open in January, the French Open from late May to early June, Wimbledon in late June to early July, and the US Open in August–September, with each, played over two weeks. The Australian and the United States tournaments are played on hard courts, the French on clay, and Wimbledon on grass. Wimbledon is the oldest tournament, founded in 1877, followed by the US in 1881, the French in 1891, and the Australian in 1905, but some were not officially designated majors until 1925.
Based on 2019 data, Eurosport found that the growth in digital Grand Slam viewing was up 20% with fans watching 36% longer. Approximately 973 Million viewers watched ATP events in 2015, compared to 395 Million that watched WTA events in 2015. Between 2009 and 2019, the ATP Tour Finals hosted at the O2 Arena in London reached a cumulative global audience of more than 850 million across more than 175 territories. According to Sports Pro Media, the 2020 French Open Men’s Singles Final drew its best average domestic television audience since 2013, with an average of 3.77 million viewers. The 2020 French Open Women’s Singles Final attracted an average audience of 1.8 million viewers to FTV 2. The 2001 US Open Women’s Singles final which saw Venus Williams defeat Serena Williams to claim her second consecutive title was watched by a total of 22.7 Million viewers on CBS prime-time television.
