Early days
The first tournament, a men's only event named the Australasian Championships, was staged in 1905 and Rodney Heath won the singles title. At this stage it wasn't designated as one of the majors and only reached this staus in 1924. The competition became known as the Australian Championships in 1927 and then finally the Australian Open in 1969.

Location
The original venue was the Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground in Melbourne. The tournament went on to be held in numerous cities around Australia and New Zealand before it permanently settled in Melbourne in 1972, first at Kooyong LTC and then at the purpose built Flinders Park, now known as Melbourne Park, where it remains today.

Grounds
Melbourne Park began staging the Australian Open in 1988. It was constructed to meet the demands of a tournament that had outgrown Kooyong's limited capacity, and the move was an immediate success with a 90 per cent increase in attendance the first year. The three main courts - Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and Hisense Arena, all have a retractable roof.

Surface
The tournament was held on grass until 1987, but the move to Melbourne Park signalled an end to this tradition and the Australian Open has been played on hard courts ever since. Rebound Ace was used for the first 20 years, then in 2008 it was replaced with cushion acrylic hard courts prepared by Greenset Worldwide, which provides better consistency and less heat retention.

All-time greats - men
Novak Djokovic has been crowned singles champion the most, with 10 titles between 2008 and 2023, ahead of Roy Emerson and Roger Federer who won six titles each. All six of Emerson's victories came in the 1960s (before the Open Era), while Federer won six titles between 2004-2018.

All-time greats - women
Margaret Court is the most prolific singles champion with 11 victories, split seven and four between the Amateur and Open Eras. Serena Williams is the most successful Open Era player, triumphing seven times, while Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles have all recorded four wins.

Early days
Established in 1891 as a one-day men’s singles championships reserved for members of the French clubs, Roland Garros (the French Open) was first held at the Stade Francais club in Paris. The tournament opened its doors to women in 1897 and internationals in 1925. The French Internationals were born and staged alternately at Stade Francais and Racing Club de France until the Roland Garros stadium was built in 1928.

What’s in a name
The French Musketeers and their famous Davis Cup triumph over USA in 1927 required a stadium worthy of stature for their rematch the following year. The Stade Francais handed over three hectares of land near Porte d’Auteuil to the French Tennis Federation, on one condition – that the new stadium would be named after one of their most renowned members, Roland Garros, a concert pianist and First World War aviation hero who had died ten years earlier.

Grounds
The Roland Garros site is today made up of two main show courts, the 15,000-capacity Philippe Chatrier Court and Suzanne Lenglen Court and 20 other courts. The site has expanded and modernised in recent years, with a retractable roof added to Philippe Chatrier Court in time for the 2020 edition, a new 5,000-seat Court Simonne-Mathieu, and floodlights installed over each court to facilitate night matches.

Surface
The famous red clay of Roland Garros is actually made up of white limestone, dusted with several millimetres of powdered red brick dust. Beneath the three-inch limestone layer is six inches of volcanic rock, a three-foot layer of sand, all sitting on a bed of concrete. When Roland Garros icon Gustavo Kuerten retired from tennis at the 2008 tournament, he was presented with an encased cross-section of the court as a souvenir.

All-time greats - men
Rafael Nadal firmly established himself as the King of Clay by collecting 14 titles at the tournament between 2005 and 2022. The only man to come close to Nadal's incredible run in Paris was Bjorn Borg, who picked up six titles between 1974 and 1981. Musketeer Henri Cochet dominated the tournament’s fledgling days, winning four titles between 1925 and 1932, while modern-day greats include three-time winners Novak Djokovic, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl and Gustavo Kuerten.

All-time greats - women
Chris Evert has won the most Roland Garros titles with seven, closely followed by Steffi Graf’s six. Monica Seles and Justine Henin are the only women in the Open Era to have won three in a row, Seles doing so from 1990-1992 and Henin from 2005-2007 after winning her maiden title in 2003.

Early days
Wimbledon - or The Championships - is the world's oldest tennis tournament, having first been played in 1877, and is considered the most prestigious by many people. The only event originally contested was men's singles, which Spencer Gore won when he came through a field of 22 players.

Grounds
The tournament has always been played in Wimbledon, a south-west suburb of London, but the actual venue has changed. It was held at the old Worple Road site until 1922, when the current Church Road site was first used.

Centre Court
Wimbledon's main arena, named because of its central location within the club's grounds, was first used in 1922. It has undergone numerous upgrades over the years, none more so than in 2009 when a new retractable roof was officially opened. Centre Court now has a capacity of 15,000.

Surface
Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam still played on the game's original surface of grass. Since 2000, the grass has been 100 per cent rye, a change from the rye and red fescue composition that was used prior. It is cut to a height of 8mm.

All-time greats - men
Roger Federer won a record eighth men's singles title in 2017, surpassing William Renshaw, who won seven titles between 1881 and 1889, Pete Sampras, who won the last of his seven crowns in 2000, and Novak Djokovic, who won seven titles between 2011 and 2022.

All-time greats - women
Martina Navratilova has been the most successful women's singles player, lifting the trophy nine times between 1978 and 1990. In recent years, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams (both seven) and Venus Williams (five) have all enjoyed multiple triumphs. Navratilova and Billie Jean King are the tournament's most prolific champions across all events, with a combined 20 titles each between singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Brits at Wimbledon
In 2013, Andy Murray ended a 77-year wait for a British champion in the men's singles. He claimed his second men's singles title in 2016, becoming the first British man since Fred Perry to win multiple Wimbledon crowns. The Brits have enjoyed more success on the women's side with three post-war winners: Angela Mortimer in 1961, Ann Jones in 1969 and most recently Virginia Wade in 1977.

Early days
The first US National Singles Championships took place in 1881 for men only. Richard Sears won the first seven titles. In 1887, the women’s championships were introduced and at the turn of the Open Era in 1968, all five men’s and women’s singles and doubles events merged to become the US Open. It’s the second-oldest major sporting event in the USA, behind the Kentucky Derby, and the only Grand Slam tournament that has been played every year since its inception.

Location
The tournament has been held at nine different venues during its history. It was first staged at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island and the women’s at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. In 1915 it moved to Forest Hills, New York, which remained its permanent base until 1978 when Flushing Meadows became its present-day home.

Grounds
Arthur Ashe stadium, named after the African-American tennis player who won the inaugural US Open in 1968, is the largest tennis arena in the world, seating 23,500. The stadium is the focal point of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in Flushing Meadows, which was renamed after the former player at an official night-time ceremony in 2006.

Surface
The US Open has been played on three different surfaces in its time: grass (1881-1974), clay (1975-1977) and hard court (1978 to present). DecoTurf is the surface used since 1978 and is known to produce a lower bounce compared to other hard courts. In 2005, all US Open and US Open Series tennis courts were unified in blue with a green outer court.

All-time greats - men
US Open men’s history belongs to Americans Richard Sears, Bill Larned, and Bill Tilden who won a record seven titles each between 1881 and 1929. Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras won five, as did Roger Federer consecutively in 2004-2008.

All-time greats - women
American women have also had most success at their home Grand Slam. Chris Evert and Serena Williams share the Open Era record with six titles, one short of all-time great Helen Wills Moody who won seven in the 1920s/30s. Other recent American multiple-US Open winners are Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin, Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, and Venus Williams.

1938: Donald Budge (USA)
1962: Rod Laver (AUS)
1969: Rod Laver (AUS)

1953: Maureen Connolly (USA)
1970: Margaret Court (AUS)
1988: Steffi Graf (GER) achieved a unique 'Golden Slam', also winning gold at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul

1951: Ken McGregor/Frank Sedgman (AUS)

1960: Maria Bueno (BRA) (Australian Championships with Christine Truman (GBR). French Championships, Wimbledon and US Championships with Darlene Hard (USA).
1984: Martina Navratilova (TCH)/Pam Shriver (USA)
1998: Martina Hingis (SUI) (Australian Open with Mirjana Lucic (CRO). French Open, Wimbledon and US Open with Jana Novotna (CZE).

1963: Ken Fletcher/Margaret Smith (AUS)
1967: Owen Davidson (AUS) (Australian Championships with Lesley Turner (AUS). French Championships, Wimbledon and US Championships with Billie Jean King (USA)

Men's singles
Not yet achieved

Men's doubles
2014: Stephane Houdet (FRA) (Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open with Shingo Kunieda (JPN). Roland Garros with Joachim Gerard (BEL)
2021: Alfie Hewett/Gordon Reid (GBR)

Quad singles
2021: Dylan Alcott (AUS)

Quad doubles
2019: Dylan Alcott (AUS) (Australian Open with Heath Davidson. French Open with David Wagner. Wimbledon and US Open with Andy Lapthorne (GBR) 

Women's singles
2021: Diede de Groot (NED) achieved a unique 'Golden Slam', also winning gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (which were held in 2021)
2022: Diede de Groot (NED)
2023: Diede de Groot (NED)

Women's doubles
2009: Esther Vergeer/Korie Homan (NED)
2011: Esther Vergeer/Sharon Walraven (NED)
2013: Aniek van Koot/Jiske Griffioen (NED)
2014: Yui Kamiji (JPN)/Jordanne Whiley (GBR)
2019: Aniek van Koot/Diede de Groot (NED)

1983: Stefan Edberg (SWE)