Top 11 players to win most Grand Slams without losing a set ft. Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams & more

Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg were the first from the ATP Tour to win more than two Grand Slam titles without losing a set.

Winning a Grand Slam is always a huge triumph for any tennis player. However, winning the title without dropping a single set shows a tennis star’s eminent display of dominance. Multiple players have completed the feat at a single juncture. However, only a few players have managed to repeat the process.

The pure domination of winning a Grand Slam without dropping a set has been a phenomenon which happens more often in women’s tennis. The selected elites have been able to conquer the feat at multiple Grand Slams across different surfaces.

With that being said, let’s take a look at the top 11 players to win most Grand Slams without dropping a single set:

11. Margaret Court: 3

• 1970, 1973 Australian Open and 1969 US Open

Margaret Court holds the record for most singles Grand Slam titles by a female star, 24. She played in both eras, amateur and open. Meanwhile, she won three titles in the Open Era without dropping a set.

The 1969 US Open was her second title in the Open Era after the French Open in the same year. She repeated the feat twice, last at Melbourne in 1973.

10. Billie Jean King: 3

• 1972 French Open, 1971 & 1972 US Open

Billie Jean King won only one French Open title and she did that without dropping a set. She defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final. She later won the US Open in two consecutive years (1971, 1972) without losing a single set.

9. Lindsay Davenport: 3

• 2000 Australian Open, 1999 Wimbledon, and 1998 US Open

Lindsay Davenport won three singles Grand Slam titles; interestingly, she won all three without dropping a set.

She took down top names such as Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Anna Kournikova, Steffi Graf, Venus Williams and more to capture three trophies.

8. Justine Henin: 3

• 2006, 2007 French Open, and 2007 US Open

Justine Henin spent 117 weeks as the WTA World No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. The former Belgian tennis player won seven Grand Slam titles.

Interestingly, in 2003 and 2007, she won two Grand Slam titles, Roland-Garros and the US Open. In 2007, she won both Grand Slam titles without dropping a set.

7. Bjorn Borg: 3

• 1978, 1980 French Open, and 1976 Wimbledon.

One of the only two male players on the list, Bjorn Borg massively dominated tennis between 1974 and 1981. He won 11 singles Grand Slam titles during this period and also played four US Open singles finals, eventually losing all.

During the 1976 Wimbledon Championships, he won all seven matches without dropping a set. He repeated the feat twice at the French Open, in 1978 and 1980.

6. Evonne Goolagong Cawley: 4

• 1975, 1976, 1977 Australian Open, and 1971 French Open

One of the greatest Australian tennis players in history, Evonne Goolagong Cawley won seven singles Grand Slam titles. Most of her titles came on her home ground in Melbourne.

She won four Australian Open titles and was unbeaten at the prestigious tournament between 1975 and 1977, as she missed the 1977 Australian Open. She played in four US Open finals but lost all.

5. Rafael Nadal: 4

• 2008, 2010, 2017 and 2020 French Open

Rafael Nadal’s on-court prowess at Roland-Garros is second to none. In addition, he has won four French Open titles without losing a single set, the highest by a male tennis player. Nadal is one of three men to complete the Career Golden Slam in singles.

Meanwhile, his 81 consecutive wins on clay is the longest single-surface winning streak in the Open Era. Interestingly, Rafael Nadal defeated the likes of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on multiple occasions to win the French Open title without handing a set.

Also Read: List of tennis players to achieve singles career golden slam

4. Steffi Graf: 5

• 1988, 1989, 1994 Australian Open, 1988 French Open and 1996 US Open

Steffi Graf is the only player to complete a Golden Slam in tennis history. In 1988, she won all four Grand Slam titles and the Olympic gold medal. In addition, she won the Australian Open and the US Open title in the same year without dropping a set. In 1989, she failed to win the French Open but won all the other three Slams.

Her last US Open title, which came in 1996, was also memorable as Graf did not lose a set during the tournament. She defeated the likes of Anna Kournikova, Martina Hingis and second seed Monica Seles to win the title. Graf won a total of 107 singles career titles.

3. Chris Evert: 5

• 1974 French Open, 1976, 1977, & 1978 US Open and 1981 Wimbledon

Chris Evert is the most successful female singles player in Roland-Garros’ history with seven titles. She also holds the record for the joint-most titles at Flushing Meadows in the Open Era alongside Serena Williams (6). She won her first singles Grand Slam title at the 1974 French Open. Interestingly, she completed the campaign without dropping a single set.

Evert did the same for three consecutive years at Flushing Meadows by winning the US Open titles without dropping a single set between 1976 and 1978. She stunned the likes of Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin and more to stay undefeated. She won her fifth Grand Slam title without dropping a set at the 1981 Wimbledon.

2. Martina Navratilova: 6

• 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990 Wimbledon, and 1983 & 1987 US Open

Martina Navratilova won the most career titles in singles as well as doubles. Only two tennis players except Navratilova (167) have won more than 100 career titles, that are, Chris Evert (157) and Steffi Graf (107). She also won a combined total of 354 titles in her professional career, a record which seems almost impossible to break.

The grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club were her favourite hunting grounds as she won nine singles, seven doubles and four mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon. She captured five consecutive titles between 1982 to 1987. Among the five campaigns, she won three without losing a single set.

She reached a similar feat twice at Flushing Meadows too. In the 1983 US Open final, she stunned Chris Evert 6-3, 6-1, while she defeated Steffi Graf in the 1987 Championship match with the final scoreline reading 7–6 (7–4), 6–1. However, she’s the joint-leader in the list of players to win the most Grand Slam titles without losing a set.

1. Serena Williams: 6

• 2017 Australian Open, 2002 & 2010 Wimbledon, and, 2002, 2008 & 2014 US Open

Martina Navratilova is tied with countrywoman Serena Williams in the first position. Williams is among the few tennis players to win all Grand Slam titles at least three times and a singles Olympic gold. She won her first Grand Slam title in 1999 at Flushing Meadows after she defeated Martina Hingis, becoming the first African-American woman in the Open Era to win a singles major.

However, after withdrawing from the 2002 Australian Open, she went on to win the other three majors. Interestingly, she won the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open without dropping a set. She defeated the top names of Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport to reach the feat.

Serena Williams repeated the same heroics four more times. She displayed her on-court prowess to outplay her sister Venus Williams in the final at the Rod Laver Arena to win her sixth major title without dropping a set. It turned out to be Serena Williams’ last Grand Slam title.

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