Men's singles players to win Channel Slam in Open Era ft. Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic & more

Carlos Alcaraz, at 21 years, 70 days, becomes the youngest player in the Open Era to win the Channel Slam.

The Channel Slam is an accomplishment of winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same calendar year. It owes its name, in part, to the English Channel, which separates France and the United Kingdom. The cities of Paris and London are hosts to the French Open and Wimbledon, respectively.

Every year, the tennis calendar switches from the slow-paced clay courts of Roland Garros to slippery grass at SW19 over a space of just three weeks.

The latest entrant to the club is Carlos Alcaraz, following his win at Wimbledon 2024. Earlier in May, he had won the men’s singles trophy at Roland Garros, which allowed him to gain entry into the select club. The club in question had only five members before Alcaraz came knocking on its doors.

The men to have achieved this rare double and cross-channel win are:

Rod Laver 

The first man in the Open Era to conquer the field at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same calendar year was Australian Rod Laver. His opponents in both events were fellow Australians. On Paris clay, Laver got the better of Ken Rosewall, while at Wimbledon, his rival was John Newcombe. 

The same year, Rod Laver won the first calendar slam of the Open Era and the second of his career. The first time was in 1962, six years before the Open Era got underway. In 1969, Laver would go on to win 16 tour-level titles. The Australian great won two Wimbledon titles and one French Open title since the Open Era began in 1968.

Bjorn Borg 

Sweden’s Bjorn Borg is the only man in the Open Era to have completed the channel slam thrice. He did so in three consecutive years – 1978, 1979 and 1980. Borg lifted the French Open trophy against Guillermo Vilas, Victor Pecci and Vitas Gerulaitis. He went on to add a fourth French Open title the next year to make it four in a row.

On the grass courts of SW19, he came up against Jimmy Connors, Roscoe Tanner and John McEnroe – all Americans. Borg was the first person since the Open Era began to claim five straight Wimbledon titles (1976-1980), a record not equaled until along came Roger Federer (2003-2007). 

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal went past the channel slam milestone for the first time in 2008 and was the first among ‘the big three’ to have achieved that feat. He went on to secure a repeat of the rare double in 2010. In 2008, his rival at both events was Roger Federer. 

While the French Open was a straightforward three-set affair, the Wimbledon final was a classic and took the better part of five hours to complete. Federer clawed his way back from two sets down, only to see the trophy slip from his grasp after 4 hours and 48 minutes on court.   

In a repeat in 2010, Nadal got the better of Robin Soderling in Paris and Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon, both times in straight sets.

Dubbed the King of Clay, Nadal has won a record fourteen Roland Garros titles. The Spaniard picked up five French Open trophies between 2010 and 2014, going past Borg’s four in a row between 1978 and 1981.  

Roger Federer 

Swiss legend Roger Federer’s channel slam is bookended with Rafael Nadal’s efforts (2008 & 2010). Federer’s 2009 wins at Paris and Wimbledon came over Swede Robin Soderling and American Andy Roddick. While the Swiss had it easy against Soderling in a match lasting less than two hours, he had to pull out all the stops against Roddick. 

The 2009 Wimbledon final stretched into five sets and 16 minutes past the four-hour mark before Federer finally won his sixth Wimbledon trophy. The deciding set saw 30 games played before Federer finally prevailed 16-14.

If Nadal is the ‘King of Clay,’ then Federer, with an eight-title haul, owns the Centre Court at Wimbledon. The Swiss won his first trophy at SW19 in 2003 and the last in 2017. His first rival was Mark Philippoussis, and Marin Cilic was his last.

Novak Djokovic 

A dozen years later, another man completed the channel slam – Novak Djokovic in 2021. Djokovic overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas in the title round of the 2021 French Open to win the second of his three trophies in Paris. Djokovic took five sets and a little over four hours to subdue the Greek. 

Over at Wimbledon, the Serb defeated the first Italian finalist at SW19, Matteo Berrettini, in four sets to seal his third straight title, sixth overall. He went on to add a seventh Wimbledon title in 2022, playing unseeded Australian Nick Kyrgios in the final.

Carlos Alcaraz 

Carlos Alcaraz took advantage of a subdued Novak Djokovic in the recently concluded edition of Wimbledon to retain his Wimbledon crown. It was a rematch of last year’s final of SW19, minus the fireworks. In contrast to last season’s final, which lasted five sets and 4 hours, 45 minutes, Djokovic folded in three sets in 2 hours, 27 minutes to hand Alcaraz the keys to the trophy.

This win followed the Spaniard’s French Open victory in the first week of June. Alcaraz’s maiden Roland Garros title came against German Alexander Zverev in what was a marathon five-set title round. Djokovic, the defending champion at Roland Garros, was on track to clash with Alcaraz. If not for the Serbian’s injury-related withdrawal, the face-off was two matches away from becoming a reality.

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