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Open Era in Tennis, 1968

Meaning + Detailed History & Records

By Jon Crim TennisCompanion

The Open Era in tennis, which began in 1968, allowed all players, amateur or professional, to compete at the four Grand Slam events.

The change ushered in the modern sport of tennis as we know it, but to understand why it happened, we need to dig through history to uncover the problems facing the sport prior and why it required a change.

This article discusses the meaning and significance behind the open era in tennis, shares what the sport looked like beforehand, and explores the game’s evolution after this significant moment unfolded.

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Open Era Meaning

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We refer to tennis starting in 1968 as the Open Era because the Grand Slam tournaments agreed to allow professional players to compete alongside amateurs. Hence the events were “Open” to all players.

These tournaments were exclusive before 1968, meaning only amateurs were allowed to compete and could not earn prize money. On the other hand, professional tennis players competed in entirely different tournaments but were making a living doing it.

Following the rule change, three of the four majors changed their names to include the word ‘Open.’

• French Open, a.k.a, Roland Garros
• Australian Open

Wimbledon, more formally known as, The Championships, Wimbledon, opted not to change its name, despite becoming open to pros. It wasn’t a requirement to change tournament names along with the rules.

The Australian Championships’ name change came a year later because the Grand Slams agreed on the rule change after the 1968 event.

Sometimes referred to as the Amateur Era, let’s start by looking at what the sport of tennis looked like before the Open Era began in 1968.

The Early Years of Tennis

Although historians can trace the origin of tennis back to the 12th century, the closest relative to the sport as we know it today kicked off in 1873 when Major Walter Wingfield invented lawn tennis.

Not long after, the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, held their first edition of The Championships in 1877, roughly a year after adding the sport as one of the club’s activities.

A few years later, in 1881, the US National Championships held their first tournament. Then in 1891, the French Championships held their inaugural event, followed by the Australian Championships in 1905.

Players competing in these tournaments were amateurs, i.e., they didn’t compete for money. They were merely playing as talented club members who enjoyed the pastime and competing.

As the sport matured, tennis players competed full time, but they still weren’t earning any money. However, the clubs hosting the tournaments were profiting by charging attendance fees.

The Pro Tours Begin

Until 1926, there were few professional tennis athletes. If you were serious about the sport, you had to be an amateur to compete at the most prestigious events, and the rules didn’t allow those individuals to earn money playing; even teaching wasn’t allowed.

However, that began to change in 1926, when promoter Charles Pyle signed a handful of players as professionals he paid to compete during a four-month circuit in North America. Players included legendary French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen alongside American Mary Browne, Vincent Richards, Harvey Snodgrass, and Howard Kinsey.

Instead of tournaments that were typical for amateurs, professionals were more likely to compete on tours that showcased head-to-head competition where the same players would face each other at different locations because that’s where they received the best pay.

With that said, tournaments did exist, including the US Pro Tennis Championships, Wembley Championships, and French Pro Championships, but players earned significantly less.

It’s worth noting that professional players were rarely independent. Instead, most were under contract with promoters who ran the tours they were participating in at various locations.

Also, once a player became a professional, they could no longer compete at the game’s most prestigious Grand Slam tournaments.

Tennis is Divided

From 1926 forward, tennis was split. Amateurs continued to compete, vying for titles at the most prestigious Grand Slam events. At the same time, the pro tours expanded and slowly attracted more talented players who were abandoning the amateurs to earn a living.

The following are a few prominent examples of top players who started as amateurs and transitioned to professionals.

• Ken Rosewall
• Pancho Gonzales
• Roy Emerson
• John Newcomb
• Cliff Drysdale
• Suzanne Lenglen
• Mary Browne
• Alice Marble
• Mary Hardwich
• Pauline Betz
• Sarah Cooke
• Billie Jean King

It’s worth noting that although Suzanne Lenglen helped usher in professional tennis for men and women, the sports adoption of women on the pro tours significantly lagged compared to the men because the tours didn’t place a significant emphasis on them.

Furthermore, women were paid significantly less in the early days of professional tennis. In many cases, they weren’t paid unless they reached a later round in a tournament, i.e., the quarterfinals.

In early 1968, the four Grand Slam tournaments, including the US Open, French Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon, agreed to allow professionals to compete alongside amateurs, initiating the Open Era.

This juncture in tennis history is significant because it marked a defining moment when it was more broadly acceptable for tennis players to earn a living doing what they loved.

Furthermore, it brought the world’s most talented players from around the world, amateurs, and professionals, back together to compete, a massive step toward the modernization of the sport.

In April 1968, the first Open Era tournament was the British Hard Court Championships. It took place in England in April. Shortly after, in May, the first French Open signaled the first Open Era Grand Slam tournament. Both tournaments were won by Ken Rosewall, who had transitioned from amateur to professional in 1957.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t necessarily a smooth transition as the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ITLF), who organized the Grand Slam events, and the promoters who ran the prominent National Tennis League (NTL) and World Championships Tennis (WCT) were often at odds.

Although the Open Era represents a significant moment for tennis, the change didn’t come without challenges.

Men and the ATP’s Formation

Competition and rivalries between the ITFL, NTL, and WCT reached a boiling point in the early 1970s. As a result, a group of players formed the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to insulate themselves from the various organizations responsible for competitive tennis.

By doing so, ATP players could jointly assert influence through boycotts and similar actions, thus protecting player interests. The ATP also developed and managed player rankings and eventually established the ATP Tour, a series of tournaments throughout a calendar year.

Today, the ATP remains, but players have challenged its efficacy. In 2019, Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil formed the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) to better serve all professional tennis players.

Women and the WTA’s Formation

After the Open Era began, women continued to take a back seat to men in pay and exposure for playing tennis. One noteworthy example is when Jack Kramer, the promoter for the Pacific Southwest Championships in Los Angeles, only offered women $7,500 in prize money. The sum was a mere 15% of the total $50,000 purse he was offering men.

In response, the publisher of World Tennis magazine, Gladys Heldman, partnered with eight female tennis players to form an entirely separate women’s tennis tour. Dubbed the ‘Original Nine,’ these women signed $1 contracts to play in a tournament in Houston, Texas.

Here’s a list of the women who signed to the tour:

• Valerie Ziegenfuss
• Nancy Richey
• Peaches Bartkowicz
• Judy Dalton
• Kerry Melville
• Rosie Casals
• Kristy Pigeon
• Julie Heldman

Criticized from the beginning, these women pushed forward with Gladys Heldman and Billie Jean King at the forefront, eventually garnering the financial backing from Heldman’s friend Joe Cullman III, then Philip Morris CEO, to launch the Virginia Slims circuit.

It was far from easy at the start, but these women hustled, promoted, and played their way to success.

Not long after, in 1973, Billie Jean King organized a meeting in London to form the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which has fought consistently since its inception for equality in tennis. Although things today are still far from perfect, the WTA has made massive strides.

ATP & WTA Collaboration

The ATP and WTA are two separate organizations that operate independently. However, in recent years they have begun collaborating strategically for the health and growth of the sport.

By doing so, they further exert their influence as a whole, rather than doing so single-handedly. Examples of this collaboration have come in the form of rule changes, anti-doping, joint statements on significant issues, and a unified app experience for fans.

As it stands, these organizations will likely remain separate for the foreseeable future. However, a growing call for simplifying the sport’s highly fragmented governance structure will undoubtedly keep the conversation at the forefront.

These days, you’ll often hear records or significant events in tennis paired or prefaced with the phrase, Open Era, and for a good reason.

Tennis fundamentally shifted in 1968 and quickly matured in the years that followed. As a result, player accomplishments during the Open Era are viewed by the tennis community through a different lens.

Doing so is not intended to diminish the records or achievements of players or results before the Open Era. Instead, it helps distinguish them and, to a degree, helps make comparisons easier.

With that in mind, let’s look at some noteworthy Open Era records that many fans and players track closely.

Matches Won

A list of the top ten players with the most singles match wins.

A list of the top 10 players with the most singles titles.

Grand Slams

A list of the top 10 players who have won the most singles Grand Slam titles.

Players who have won all four Grand Slam tournaments in singles during a calendar year.

Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam

Players who have won all four Grand Slam tournaments in singles consecutively, but not in a calendar year.

Career Grand Slam

Players who have won all four Grand Slam tournaments in singles at least once.

If you’re a tennis fan, gaining at least a high-level understanding of the Open Era and its meaning to the sport can be eye-opening.

Doing so often helps those who follow and play the game gain a deeper appreciation for the sport while developing a better understanding of why professional tennis is organized as it is today.

Hopefully, you’ve found this article helpful in better understanding the Open Era’s significance. If you have any questions about the material I’ve covered, please don’t hesitate to comment below.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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Records Book

 1938 different records.

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The longest open era tennis winning streaks.

• August 3, 2020

Building a lengthy winning streak at the elite level of tennis is a feat largely reserved for all-time greats.

Suzanne Lenglen won a remarkable 182 consecutive matches from 1921-1926.

That stands as the all-time record, while Bill Tilden’s formidable run of 98 straight wins in 1924-1925 tops the men’s list.

Winning streaks are arguably even more impressive in the Open Era, though, with the depth and level of competition.

Here is a look at the record singles winning streaks on the respective tours since the Open Era started in 1968:

Martina Navratilova – 74 matches (1984)

Martina Navratilova eclipsed the 56-match women’s singles record – set by her great friend and rival Chris Evert – with a superlative run 10 years after Evert’s 1974 streak.

After losing to Hana Mandlikova in the Oakland final in January, Navratilova won 13 straight tournaments – dropping just six sets.

The 10-month streak started at the U.S. Women’s Indoor Championships and featured titles on hard, clay, grass and carpet courts.

Navratilova beat Evert six times during the run – including a straight-set best-of-five win in the Virginia Slims Championships final at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

The Czechoslovak-American also beat Evert 6-3, 6-1 in the French Open final, and in a straight-set Wimbledon championship match.

She then edged past doubles partner Pam Shriver 7-5 in the third in the final in Mahwah, New Jersey.

Navratilova came through another tough test at the US Open – beating Evert 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the title match.

After collecting three more WTA titles, the World No.1 headed to the year’s final major – the Australian Open in November.

The Melbourne tournament was then played at Kooyong Stadium on grass – a surface on which Navratilova had incredible success.

Navratilova was widely expected to complete the calendar Grand Slam, but she was stopped two wins short of that feat.

Helena Sukova stunned Navratilova 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-finals, ending her monumental winning streak at 74 matches.

Steffi Graf’s 66-match run in 1989-90 – which Monica Seles ended in Berlin – is the closest anyone has come since.

Guillermo Vilas – 46 matches (1977)

Certain sources, including the International Tennis Hall of Fame , state Bjorn Borg achieved winning streaks of 49 in 1978 and 48 in 1979-80.

However, both sequences featured walkovers given by Borg and wins at events not listed by the ATP.

The ATP recognise Guillermo Vilas’ 46-match run as the official men’s Open Era record.

After winning the 1977 French Open, Vilas lost to Billy Martin in the third round of Wimbledon.

Following that defeat, he won seven tournaments and lost only 16 sets in a brilliant streak played entirely on clay.

The stretch started in July in Kitzbuhel, where Vilas saw off Jan Kodes in a five-set final.

Vilas then won events in Washington, Louisville, South Orange and Columbus prior to the US Open – which was played on Har-Tru green clay courts at Forest Hills for the final time.

There, the Argentine recovered from a set down to overcome Jimmy Connors in the final for his second Grand Slam title.

Vilas then won two four-set singles rubbers as Argentina lost to Australia in the Davis Cup semi-finals.

After Vilas added a title in Paris, his run came to a controversial end in the Aix en Provence final.

Trailing Ilie Nastase by two sets to love, Vilas retired due to the Romanian’s use of a double-strung ‘spaghetti’ racquet.

The racquet was banned by the ITF the next week as it created a large amount of spin and unpredictable bounces.

Despite this, Vilas had surpassed Connors’ record of 36 consecutive wins in 1975.

Ivan Lendl (44 matches in 1981-82) and Novak Djokovic (43 matches in 2010-11) have since come tantalisingly close to matching Vilas’ winning streak.

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Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

The Open Era is the current era of professional tennis . It began in 1968 when the Grand Slam tournaments allowed professional players to compete with amateurs, ending the division that had persisted since the dawn of the sport in the 19th century. The first open tournament was the 1968 British Hard Court Championships held in April, [1] followed by the inaugural open Grand Slam tournament, the 1968 French Open , a month later. [2] Unless otherwise sourced, all records are based on data from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), [3] the International Tennis Federation (ITF), [4] and the official websites of the four Grand Slam tournaments. All rankings-related records are based on ATP rankings , which began in 1973. The names of active players appear in boldface .

Grand Slam tournaments

Career totals, grand slam achievements, season totals, per grand slam tournament, consecutive totals, court type totals, year-end championships, overall totals, masters tournaments, atp tour totals, career golden masters, all tournaments.

• Career totals 2
• Season totals 2

Tournament totals

• Winning streaks 2
• Court type totals 2

Titles per season

Big titles (since 1990).

• ATP Tour totals 2

Olympic tournaments

Atp rankings achievements, rankings weeks, year-end rankings, prize money, miscellaneous, youngest and oldest, win percentage, sets statistics, non-calendar year grand slam, career grand slam, minimum at each grand slam tournament totals, most seasons with at least one major title or final, consecutive seasons with at least one major title or final, titles per tournament, finals per tournament, match record per tournament.

• minimum 20 wins and over 75% ( correct as of 2024 Australian Open ).

Match wins per tournament

Events won with no sets dropped.

• ↑ Fewest games (32) lost winning a tournament.
• Most sets dropped en route to the title were 8: Borg in 1974 , Becker in 1985 and Kuerten in 1997 .

Spanning consecutive tournaments

Winning streaks, spanning non-consecutive tournaments, consecutive titles per tournament, consecutive match wins per tournament, match record.

• minimum 30 wins ( correct as of 2024 Australian Open ).

There have been three prominent Year-end Championships in the Open Era , each involving only the top performers for the given year. Those championships have been the most coveted titles after the four Grand Slams during the Open Era. (1970–present) This is a combination of the YECs (Year-end Championships) for two separate tours: the ITF Grand Prix that ran until 1989 and the ATP Tour that replaced it. For record-keeping purposes, the ATP has incorporated the entire history of the ITF "Masters Grand Prix" alongside its ATP Finals tournament; thus they are both listed as "ATP" here. In total, these YECs have been held at numerous venues around the globe and played on several surfaces (indoor hard since 2006). (1971–89) The WCT Finals , as the YEC for the World Championship Tennis tour, was held in Dallas, Texas and played on indoor carpet courts. (1990–99) The Grand Slam Cup (GSC) was an ITF tournament for the top performers in the year's Grand Slam tournaments. It was held in Munich, Germany and played on indoor carpet courts.

Correct as of 2023 ATP Finals .

• Boris Becker was the only player to win all three Championships.

(1970–1989) Before the ATP took control of the men's professional tour in 1990, the Grand Prix Super Series was the highest class of events after the Grand Slams and the Year-end Championships but unlike the Masters series, the participation of the top players was not mandatory.

(1990–present) The Masters is an annual series of nine top-level tournaments featuring the top professional men players. The Masters events along with the Grand Slam tournaments and Year-end Championships constitute the most coveted titles on the annual ATP Tour calendar.

Titles & finals

• Grand Slam tournaments in bold .

Winning streaks per court type

Match stats correct as of 2024 Australian Open

Per consecutive seasons

The Grand Slam tournaments, the Masters events and the ATP Finals are the Big Titles of the annual ATP Tour calendar since 1990 , in addition to the quadrennial Summer Olympics . Between 1970 and 1989, the biggest titles were the four majors and the Year-end Championships (ATP Finals, WCT Finals and Grand Slam Cup ), in addition to the Grand Prix Super Series events.

• Top 10, Active players and records in bold.

Tennis was reinstated as an official Olympic sport in 1988. There have been nine tournaments in the Open Era.

ATP rankings began in 1973. These weekly rankings determine tournament eligibility and seedings. At the end of each year they also become the official ATP season rankings.

• The ATP ranking was frozen for 22 weeks from 23 March to 23 August 2020.

Correct as of 1   April   2024 [ update ] with (▲) indicating active streaks. [13]

Prize money has increased throughout the Open Era , in some cases greatly in a short time span. For example, the Australian Open winner received A$916,000 in 2004 and received A$3,150,000 in 2024 . [15] [16]

• Career totals include doubles prize money and are not inflation-adjusted. [17]
• Correct as of 1   April   2024 [ update ] .

No. 1 & Top 10

• minimum 25 matches (M/Y is average number of matches per year during the streak)

Consecutive

Set and game winning percentages, consecutive sets won.

Consecutive sets won per court type

• All-time tennis records – Men's singles
• ATP Finals appearances
• ATP Tour records
• List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players
• List of ATP Tour top-level tournament singles champions
• List of Grand Slam men's singles champions
• Lists of tennis records and statistics
• Open Era tennis records – Women's singles
• Tennis Masters Series singles records and statistics
• 1 2 Borg withdrew prior to a scheduled match in the midst of both streaks, [9] [10] which the ITF does not consider as ending the streak. Likewise, a 1980 news article considered them valid streaks, [11] but Sports Illustrated lists Borg's win streaks at 35 and 41. [12]
• 1 2 3 4 Carpet courts are no longer in use on the professional tour since 2009.
• ↑ 5 of Becker's 14 Big Titles were won before the ATP Tour era.

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• ↑ "Event Guide / History: Roland-Garros, a never-ending story" . Roland Garros Official Website . IBM Corporation and Fédération Française de Tennis . Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Another significant turning point came in 1968 when the French Internationals became the first Grand Slam tournament to join the "Open" era.
• ↑ "Performance Zone – ATP Tour" .
• ↑ ITF website
• ↑ "Novak Completes Career Golden Masters" . ATP . 20 August 2018.
• ↑ "Win–loss Björn Borg" . atptour.com . ATP . Retrieved 1 January 2024 .
• ↑ "1969: Rod Laver wins his second Grand Slam" . Retrieved 11 July 2015 .
• ↑ Douglas, Perry (21 July 2014). "Can Roger Federer top the great major-free seasons of Andre Agassi and Rod Laver?" . www.oregonlive.com . Oregonian Media Group . Retrieved 13 July 2015 .
• ↑ "Bjorn Borg ATP player activity 1978" .
• ↑ "Bjorn Borg ATP player activity 1979" .
• ↑ "Argentina winst trophy cup by whipping Italy in final" (PDF) . The Times-News . 13 May 1980. p.   B7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2017 . Retrieved 3 March 2018 . The left-handed Vilas, who beat four-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg Sunday to break the Swede's 49-match victory streak [...]
• ↑ "Longest ATP Win Streaks (Open Era)" . Sports Illustrated . 4 July 2011.
• ↑ "ATP Singles Rankings" .
• ↑ "ATP No. 1s" .
• ↑ "Career Prize Money" (PDF) . ATP.
• ↑ "Australian Open Prize Money 2024" . Perfect Tennis . Archived from the original on 2 January 2024 . Retrieved 2 January 2024 .
• ↑ "Adjusted for inflation, the ATP's current elite are the best paid ever" . ubitennis.net . 11 January 2016 . Retrieved 11 January 2016 .
• ↑ "1972 Kingston – Singles draw" . Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
• ↑ Nadal stats
• ↑ Djokovic stats
• ↑ Federer stats
• ↑ Connors stats
• ↑ McEnroe stats
• ↑ Borg stats
• ↑ Lendl stats
• ↑ Laver stats
• ↑ Agassi stats
• ↑ Sampras stats
• ↑ Vilas stats
• Notable rivalries
• Titles leaders
• Players' achievements
• Rankings by country
• Olympic medalists
• Davis Cup champions
• Billie Jean King Cup champions
• ATP Cup champions
• Double faults

Open Era tennis records – Men's singles

The Open Era is the current era of professional tennis . It began in 1968 when the Grand Slam tournaments allowed professional players to compete with amateurs, ending the division that had persisted since the dawn of the sport in the 19th century. The first open tournament was the 1968 British Hard Court Championships held in April, followed by the inaugural open Grand Slam tournament, the 1968 French Open , a month later. Unless otherwise sourced, all records are based on data from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the official websites of the four Grand Slam tournaments. All rankings-related records are based on ATP Rankings , which began in 1973. The names of active players appear in boldface .

• 1.1.1 Matches
• 1.2.1 Grand Slam
• 1.2.2 Non-calendar year Grand Slam
• 1.2.3 Career Grand Slam
• 1.2.4 At each Grand Slam tournament totals
• 1.3.1 Most seasons with at least one major title or one final
• 1.4.1 Titles per tournament
• 1.4.2 Finals per tournament
• 1.4.3 Match record per tournament
• 1.4.4 Match wins per tournament
• 1.4.5 Events won with no sets dropped
• 1.5.1.1 Matches
• 1.5.1.2 Entries
• 1.5.2 Spanning non-consecutive tournaments
• 1.5.3.1 Consecutive match wins per tournament
• 1.6.1 Match record
• 1.6.2 Match wins
• 2.1 Overall totals
• 2.2 ATP totals
• 2.3 WCT totals
• 3.1 Overall totals
• 3.2 Career Golden Masters
• 4.1.1 Titles & finals
• 4.1.2 Matches
• 4.1.3 vs. Top 10
• 4.2 Season totals
• 4.3 Tournament totals
• 4.4 Winning streaks
• 4.5.1 Titles
• 4.5.2.1 Match wins
• 4.6.1.1 Per consecutive seasons
• 5 ATP Tour 'Big Titles'
• 6 Olympic tournaments
• 7.1 Rankings weeks
• 7.2 Year-end rankings
• 8 Prize money
• 9.1.1 Titlists
• 9.1.2 Grand Slams
• 9.1.3 No. 1 & Top 10
• 9.2.1 Consecutive
• 9.3.1 Set and game winning percentages
• 9.3.2 Consecutive sets won
• 10 See also

Grand Slam tournaments

Career totals, grand slam achievements, non-calendar year grand slam, career grand slam, at each grand slam tournament totals, season totals, most seasons with at least one major title or one final, per grand slam tournament totals, titles per tournament, finals per tournament, match record per tournament.

• minimum 20 wins ( correct as of 2022 Australian Open ).

Match wins per tournament

Events won with no sets dropped.

• ^ Fewest games (32) lost winning a tournament.
• Most sets dropped en route to the title were 8: Borg in 1974 , Becker in 1985 and Kuerten in 1997 .

Consecutive totals

Spanning consecutive tournaments, spanning non-consecutive tournaments, consecutive titles per tournament, consecutive match wins per tournament, court type totals, match record.

• minimum 30 wins ( correct as of 2022 Australian Open ).

Year-end championships

There have been three prominent YECs in the Open Era , each involving only the top performers for the given year. Those championships are the most coveted titles after the Grand Slams. (1970–present) This is a combination of the YECs for two separate tours: the ITF Grand Prix that ran until 1989 and the ATP Tour that replaced it. For record-keeping purposes, the ATP has incorporated the entire history of the ITF "Masters Grand Prix" alongside its ATP Finals tournament; thus they are both listed as "ATP" here. In total, these YECs have been held at numerous venues around the globe and played on several surfaces (indoor hard since 2006). (1971–89) The WCT Finals , as the YEC for the World Championship Tennis tour, was held in Dallas, Texas and played on indoor carpet courts. (1990–99) The Grand Slam Cup (GSC) was an ITF tournament for the top performers in the year's Grand Slam tournaments. It was held in Munich, Germany and played on indoor carpet courts.

• WCT and GSC tournaments are specifically indicated in the Overall titles table.

Overall totals

Masters tournaments.

(1990–present) The Masters is an annual series of nine top-level tournaments featuring the top players on the tour. Along with the Grand Slams and YECs, those are the most coveted titles. Starting from 1990, the ATP took control of the main tour creating the ATP Tour . Since then, the tournaments outside of the Grand Slams and Year-End Championships on the ATP Tour have been classified as ATP Masters 1000, ATP 500 and ATP 250 tournaments.

Career Golden Masters

All tournaments, titles & finals, tournament totals.

• Grand Slam tournaments in bold .

Winning streaks

Winning streaks per court type

Match stats correct as of 2022 Mexican Open

Per season totals

Per consecutive seasons, atp tour 'big titles', olympic tournaments.

Tennis was reinstated as an official Olympic sport in 1988. There have been nine tournaments in the Open Era.

ATP rankings achievements

ATP rankings began in 1973. These weekly rankings determine tournament eligibility and seedings. At the end of each year they also become the official ATP season rankings.

Rankings weeks

• The ATP Tour was suspended from 16 March to 21 August 2020. The ATP ranking was frozen from 23 March to 23 August 2020.

Correct as of 18 April 2022 [update] with (▲) indicating active streaks.

Year-end rankings

Prize money.

Prize money has increased throughout the open era, in some cases greatly in a short time span. For example, the Australian Open winner received A$916,000 in 2004 and A$2,875,000 in 2022.

• Career totals include doubles prize money and are not inflation-adjusted.
• Correct as of 18 April 2022 [update] .

Miscellaneous

Youngest and oldest, grand slams, no. 1 & top 10, win percentage.

• minimum 25 matches (M/Y is average number of matches per year during the streak)

Consecutive

Sets statistics, set and game winning percentages, consecutive sets won.

• Lists of tennis records and statistics
• All-time tennis records – Men's singles
• ATP Tour records
• ATP Finals appearances
• Tennis Masters Series singles records and statistics
• List of Grand Slam men's singles champions
• List of ATP Tour top-level tournament singles champions
• List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players
• Open Era tennis records – Women's singles
• Notable rivalries
• Titles leaders
• Player achievements
• Rankings by country
• Olympic medalists
• Davis Cup champions
• Billie Jean King Cup champions
• Double faults
• Tennis records and statistics

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1968, Open era: The moment tennis opted to become a modern sport

With seven governing bodies and unity still seemingly impossible, tennis has never been quite so disorganised or disjointed. In the first of three special features, we look at the revolution of 1968, when tennis finally entered the modern era.

March 30, 1968. Probably the key date in tennis history. Members from the International Tennis Federation (known at the time as the International Lawn Tennis Federation) were gathered at the Automobile Club de France headquarters, in Place de la Concorde in the 8th district of Paris, to sign the Open era’s birth certificate. Here was the revolution. The modernity. For the first time in tennis history, federations were to authorise professional players to play alongside amateurs in the same tournaments. This change would eventually prove to be the first step in making tennis what it is today: hugely popular and with the best players in the world participating in the biggest tournaments, for an even bigger show.

But everything has not been easy. Far from it. Before 1968, tennis was divided into two clans: the amateurs, who were playing tournaments without prize money, and the pros, who were paid by sponsors for their appearances. The pros were not allowed to play the Grand Slam tournaments – still tennis’ Holy Grail – but the Grand Slams were not offering any remuneration. At that time, the sport’s nobleness was considered more important than anything and the collective good thinking was that you didn’t need to win money to be considered a great champion.

“In fact, federations and national associations, which were organizing the biggest tournaments in the world, discreetly paid amateur players under the table to have control of them,” journalist and tennis historian Steve Flink told us. “And these players were called shamateurs. These amateurs were not earning enormous amounts of money, but enough to maintain their status and play the most prestigious tournaments like Wimbledon and Forest Hills.”

In his autobiography, My Story: A Champion’s Memoirs , published in 1948, Bill Tilden , American player and 10-time Grand Slam winner from 1920 to 1930, wrote :

“If tennis is to realize its full potential, it must find a solution to the professional/amateur problem which has plagued it for many years. Only through such a solution can there be free competition among not just a few of the great players of the world – but among all of them. The sporting public want to see the best. It doesn’t give a hood whether that best is amateur or professional.”

Tilden had already understood his sport’s situation, 20 years before the start of the Open era.

Despite their prestige, amateur tournaments – among them Wimbledon , the French Open or the US Open – were more and more deserted during the 1960s as players turned professional, allowing them to earn much more money. Sponsors were organising tours with the best professional players in the world, with a huge cheque given at the end. The three biggest professional tournaments were the Wembley Pro, the US Pro and the French Pro. Rod Laver , one of the sport’s legends, was an amateur player from 1956 to 1962, before turning pro in December 1962, a decision that meant he could not longer play in any of the Grand Slams from 1963 to 1967… There was then an exodus of the best amateur players, who would no longer depend on their Federations, and in the process earn more money. Leaving prestigious tournaments like Wimbledon or the French Open , they were hoping to initiate a system change.

“The public wanted to see all of the best players—amateur and professional—competing against each other,” Steve Flink explained. “But those who had turned pro couldn’t play the most prestigious tournaments anymore. Pancho Gonzalez, Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver: these great names and others were not permitted to play the Grand Slam tournaments. This was an injustice to the fans.”

Tennis is losing itself: the two “clans” had to be reunited.

1960, a first missed opportunity

The Open era could have begun eight years earlier, in 1960. But the coup attempted by the International Lawn Tennis Federation failed. During the summer of 1960, the ILTF gathered in Paris to vote on whether to open tournaments up to both amateurs and professionals. Motion rejected by… a five-vote margin! This loss had been a real shock for players, amateurs and professionals, who were already convinced that the motion would be accepted. National federations still wanted to keep control on amateur players under licences. They were deciding which tournaments their players, paid by them, were going to play each year.

“At this time, national federations were running tennis: players were hired to play for their countries, it was the priority,” journalist and tennis history specialist Joël Drucker explained to us.

Whereas other sports such as soccer, Formula 1 or boxing were beginning or pursuing their evolution toward professionalism and were transforming into real businesses, tennis was staying behind, stagnating and losing popularity.

“The most known events didn’t have the best players, one of ATP founding fathers Jack Kramer wrote in his autobiography The Game – My 40 Years In Tennis . Tennis was a wonderful sport, but with amateurs and professionals in two different spots, it could not have the visibility it truly deserved.”

Players waited eight long years before that finally became a reality on March 30, 1968, with the key signature from the International Lawn Tennis Federation, formalising the Open era birth and the reunification of amateur and professional players. In this eight-year period, federations had lost their best players, who turned pro and were feeling that change was in the air. At the end of 1967, trying to make things evolve, and against the ILTF’s opinion, the British Lawn Tennis Association approved a reform to organise in Great Britain tournaments opened to professionals and amateurs, including Wimbledon, as soon as 1968. This brave decision gained the support from several federations and pushed the ILTF to change the face of tennis, on March 30, 1968.

Bournemouth, 1968: revolution completed

The first official tournament from this new era was held in Bournemouth, England, from April 22 to 27, 1968. One amateur stood out: British Mark Cox. He beat two professional stars: Roy Emerson and Pancho Gonzalez. Cox didn’t win the tournament; another star of the time, Ken Rosewall, prevailed over Rod Laver in the final . It was a success for the organisers. Ticket sales were six times greater than those from previous years. “If anyone doubted that Open tennis would galvanise public interest overnight, here was their answer”, wrote prominent British journalist Linda Timms in World Tennis the day after the final.

“The Open Era has been a big step forward in tennis,” Steve Flink told us. “It immensely contributed to this sport’s popularity. The public could finally see all of the best players in the world together. Ken Rosewall took the first Grand Slam tournament of the Open Era at Roland Garros in 1968. Rod Laver was victorious at Wimbledon that same year. Tennis fans rejoiced as they watched these enduringly great players perform again on the premier stages of the sport!”

The quality of tennis played all over the world quickly rose. The interest from the public and sponsors for these tournaments grew. The incomes and tennis professionalism developed from the early seventies. Players would see in this modern era the opportunity to build a real business, to earn more money. But this quest for power and recognition would create a new separation, between men and women. Thinking that they were the most popular and bankable, these men would think of their own development plan. The starting point for a power split and a fight for equality in treatment concerning money. An issue tennis is still navigating through.

• Read also:  April 28 1968: The day Ken Rosewall edged Rod Laver to win the first Open tournament

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Tennis celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Open Era

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This week marks the 50th anniversary since the inception of the Open Era. This new epoch for tennis began in 1968  - and in the past five decades, there have been plenty of amazing champions and stunning records.

The first event of the Open Era was the British Hard Court Open Championships, in Bournemouth, England - and it was won by Virginia Wade, who would go on to capture three Grand Slam titles including Wimbledon in 1977. 

Margaret Court’s 21 titles in 1970 remains the best single-season effort by any woman in the Open Era, her run taking in a calendar year Grand Slam of all four majors - and Martina Navratilova won more Open Era titles than any other, in both singles (167, including a record 1,442 match wins) and doubles (177).

For more memories from the Open Era, check out this gallery, featuring Venus, Serena, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King and more!

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• Preplanned tours
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• Themed tours
• Customized tours
• St. Petersburg

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro Tour is included in most guided tours’ itineraries. Opened in 1935, under Stalin’s regime, the metro was not only meant to solve transport problems, but also was hailed as “a people’s palace”. Every station you will see during your Moscow metro tour looks like a palace room. There are bright paintings, mosaics, stained glass, bronze statues… Our Moscow metro tour includes the most impressive stations best architects and designers worked at - Ploshchad Revolutsii, Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Novoslobodskaya and some others.

What is the kremlin in russia?

The guide will not only help you navigate the metro, but will also provide you with fascinating background tales for the images you see and a history of each station.

And there some stories to be told during the Moscow metro tour! The deepest station - Park Pobedy - is 84 metres under the ground with the world longest escalator of 140 meters. Parts of the so-called Metro-2, a secret strategic system of underground tunnels, was used for its construction.

During the Second World War the metro itself became a strategic asset: it was turned into the city's biggest bomb-shelter and one of the stations even became a library. 217 children were born here in 1941-1942! The metro is the most effective means of transport in the capital.

There are almost 200 stations 196 at the moment and trains run every 90 seconds! The guide of your Moscow metro tour can explain to you how to buy tickets and find your way if you plan to get around by yourself.

Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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Moscow Metro Underground Small-Group Tour - With Reviews & Ratings

Moscow metro underground small-group tour.

• See more images

Tour Information

Key Details

• Mobile Voucher Accepted
• Free Cancellation
• Duration: 3 Hrs
• Language: English
• Departure Time : 10:00 AM
• Departure Details : Karl Marks Monument on Revolution Square, metro stop: Square of Revolution
• Return Details : Metro Smolenskaya
• If you cancel at least 4 day(s) in advance of the scheduled departure, there is no cancellation fee.
• If you cancel within 3 day(s) of the scheduled departure, there is a 100 percent cancellation fee.
• Tours booked using discount coupon codes will be non refundable.

Go beneath the streets on this tour of the spectacular, mind-bending Moscow Metro! Be awed by architecture and spot the Propaganda , then hear soviet stories from a local in the know. Finish it all up above ground, looking up to Stalins skyscrapers, and get the inside scoop on whats gone on behind those walls.

Know More about this tour

We begin our Moscow tour beneath the city, exploring the underground palace of the Moscow Metro. From the Square of Revolution station, famous for its huge statues of soviet people (an armed soldier, a farmer with a rooster, a warrior, and more), we’ll move onto some of the most significant stations, where impressive mosaics, columns, and chandeliers will boggle your eyes! Moreover, these stations reveal a big part of soviet reality — the walls depict plenty of Propaganda , with party leaders looking down from images on the walls. Your local guide will share personal stories of his/her family from USSR times, giving you insight into Russia’s complicated past and present. Then we’re coming back up to street level, where we’ll take a break and refuel with some Russian fast food: traditional pancakes, called bliny. And then, stomachs satiated, we are ready to move forward! We’ll take the eco-friendly electric trolleybus, with a route along the Moscow Garden Ring. Used mainly by Russian babushkas(grannies) during the day, the trolleybus hits peak hours in the mornings and evenings, when many locals use it going to and from their days. Our first stop will be the Aviator’s House, one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters, followed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — and you’ll hear the legends of what has gone on inside the walls. Throughout your Moscow tour, you’ll learn curious facts from soviet history while seeing how Russia exists now, 25 years after the USSR.

Local English-speaking guide

Pancake snack and drink

Additional food and drinks

Tickets for public transport

Souvenirs and items of a personal nature

Tips and gratuities for the guide

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking

Dress standard: Please wear comfortable shoes for walking. For your Urban Adventure you will be in a small group of a maximum of 12 people

Traveler Reviews

This tour exceeded our expectations. Nikolai (Nick), our tour guide, was very knowledgeable, thorough, and has a great personality. He didn't take shortcuts and really covered everything that was on the agenda in great detail. We saw beautiful metro stations and learned the history behind them, including many of the murals and designs.

We did the tour with Anna her knowledge and understanding of the History surrounding the metro brought the tour alive. Well done Anna!

This tour was amazing!

Anna was a great tour guide. She gave us heaps of interesting information, was very friendly, and very kindly showed us how to get to our next tour.

Amazing beauty and history.

An excellent tour helped by an absolutely amazing guide. Anna gave a great insight into the history of the metro helped by additional material she had prepared.

great tour and guide - thanks again

great will do it again, Miriam ke was very good as a guide she has lived here all here life so knew every interesting detail.a good day