The History of the Grand Slam

Originally applied to golfing tournaments in the 1930s, the term “Grand Slam” was first used for tennis by John Kieran, a newspaper columnist. Today, The Grand Slam refers to the four major tournaments in the sport of tennis. The tournaments are ranked according to world tour ranking, public attention, prize-money, number of players and player field size. The four major grand slam tennis tournaments include Wimbledon, The French Open, the US Open and the Australian Open.

Image courtesy of Shreyans Bhansali, Flickr

The term grand slam is used to indicate that a player has won all the four major tennis tournaments in a single calendar year. For many years, the term grand slam has also been used to refer to the major tournaments themselves.
A Timeline of Grand Slam Tennis Tournament Wins
1938: John Donald Budge (Don Budge), the American tennis champion, won all of the four men’s singles titles
1962 & 1969: Rodney George Laver (Rod Laver), the Australian tennis champion, has won the grand slam twice in his seven years as the world’s top ranking tennis star
1969 – 1971: Margaret Smith Court, the Australian World No.1, won the grand slam three times; once for the Ladies’ singles … Read more at FryingPanSports

Djokovic Wakes up from 2011 Dream Season

Coming off his incredible win over Nadal in the US Open tennis final, Djokovic was unable to complete his Davis Cup match due to a lingering back injury.  The injury first made an appearance during the final with Nadal.  With only a short rest period between the final and his Davis Cup match, Djokovic was unable to recover properly and retired after losing the the first set.

Novak Djokovic’s 2011 Season

Looking back it has been quite a year for the young Serbian player.  To start off 2011 he notched 41 consecutive wins that led him to hoist his second major Australian Open title, along with a slew of victories at other prestigious events.  He was indeed the man to beat, and for 41 matches no one was able to.

An on form Federer stopped the streak in the semi-final of the French Open at Roland Garros.  Federer played inspired tennis, dismissing the circulating rumors of his demise from the top of men’s tennis.  This was a temporary lull however, as Djokovic returned to form and snatched the Wimbledon championship to add to his list of major titles.

Fast forward to the present.  We have a new US Open … Read more at FryingPanSports

A Quick History of Golf

While the definitive history of golf has yet to be uncovered, the game has existed in one form or another since at least medieval times, when games were played with balls and clubs.  The game itself grew out of a ball and club game on the fjord of the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

According to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the game of golf was invented in Scotland.  While ball and club games were played in other places, like the Netherlands and China, among others, the golf game we recognize today with 18 holes almost surely originated in Scotland.  In fact, there is 1457 documentation of the existence of golf in the form of an Act of Scottish Parliament wherein James II of Scotland banned the playing of “gowf” and football because they were distracting soldiers from practicing archery, which was needed for military tactics.

Golf was banned in Parliamentary Acts of 1471 and 1491 because golf was deemed unprofitable, and Mary Queen of Scots was frowned upon for playing golf right after the murder of her husband in 1567.  Golf was not considered a suitable pastime for women at that time, so it was … Read more at FryingPanSports

Golf’s Rory McIlroy’s Success Includes Strength of Character

It’s said that Rory McIlroy has the right “stuff” of character; both humbleness and confidence.

There are high hopes and great expectations from Padraig Harrington and Greg Norman. One is that McIlroy just might beat Jack Nicklaus’ who had 18 majors and the other is to be the replacement after the sad loss of Steve Ballesteros. In a dignified manner at the Masters, McIlroy handled his debacle on Sunday, showed his mettle while speaking publicly about Tiger Woods’ ebbing game and the humanitarian trip he took to Haiti; when all the while, he could have been preparing for the U.S. Open. Being there in Haiti gave him the dose of perspective that he felt he needed.

His awe-inspiring performance at the U.S. Open seems to be over-flowing with the assurance of many more majors ahead.  With a flawless four days of golf, finishing Sunday afternoon at Congressional and shattering the Open’s record, McIlroy, is defying the logic in the toughest of tests in golf with a “2-under 69”.

What a wonderful glimpse the world was allowed, as this young man of 22 from Northern Ireland, fell into the proud arms of his father. Gerry McIlroy, who took on three jobs … Read more at FryingPanSports