Competitive sports are both fun and exciting to watch. The urge to support teams or be fans of particular athletes is not unusual in today’s world. As a result, you can encounter a variety of sports broadcasts on live TV.
These broadcasts may be the most watched entertainment programs. People all around the world follow different branches and support various athletes. Of course, some branches are more popular than others, but it is safe to say they all have many fans.
Tennis is one of the most watched sports branches globally and one of the most competitive ones. Moreover, different kinds of courts and various tournaments make the sport even more exciting.
It is also one of the oldest sports dating back to the 12th century. Even though it was not called tennis and played using the palm, it is seen as the ancient origin of this sport. However, the most exciting thing about this sport is the tournaments.
Millions of people watch them, and the popular ones have significant prize money. In this article, we will answer some of the most frequently asked questions about tennis tournaments and talk about their prizes.
What Is the Biggest Trophy in Tennis?
Even though there are numerous tournaments in tennis, it is pretty clear that the Grand Slam is the most popular one. Grand Slam consists of four events. In addition, there are three events called “opens”: the French, Australian, and US opens.
The fourth one is Wimbledon. Even though there are other metrics, Wimbledon is considered the most prestigious one. The event dated back to 1877 and was held at Wimbledon’s All England Tennis Club in southwest London. One of the tournament’s unique aspects is that matches are held on grass courts.
Throughout the European summer, the All England Tennis Club hosts various singles and doubles matches, with all grand finals taking place on the main court. The ladies’ final will be held on the final Saturday of the event, while the men’s final will be held on the final Sunday, and the men’s and women’s singles titles, which are handed their trophies on the renowned Number 1 Court.
Even though there is no official announcement about the biggest trophy, most people, including former champions like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Elena Rybakina, say it is the most exciting and prestigious tournament in tennis.
The other Grand Slam tournaments also have high prize money and are watched by millions of people. However, Wimbledon’s great history and long-held traditions make it more prestigious. Besides prize money and the number of followers, Wimbledon has iconic trophies awarded to champions.
For the men’s singles champion, a trophy features a raised foot cover with a pineapple on top and a traditional style with handles on either side. Under each of the handles, a head wearing a winged helmet appears, and The cup has the statement “The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World.”
The woman who wins the ladies’ singles title receives a silver salver known as the ‘Rosewater Dish’ or ‘Venus Rosewater Dish.’ featuring mythological figures. On the other hand, tennis is an Olympic sport. So, the gold medal may be seen as the biggest trophy in tennis since athletes represent their countries.
Which Is the Hardest Grand Slam to Win?
This one is among the most frequently asked questions about tennis tournaments. However, the answer is not complicated. Most people agree that the clay court is the toughest. But, unfortunately, most of the legendary players couldn’t win the French Open.
Furthermore, most of them couldn’t reach the finals. A popular sports channel says the most iconic phrase to explain how tough the French Open is: “Clay doesn’t care for champions.” The word is spot on. Even Federer and Djokovic, both ostensibly all-surface experts, have won it once.
Players must play pre-events for 6 weeks on clay, then 2 weeks of Grand Slam starts. In addition, the tournament plays in a best of 5 sets format without a tiebreak in the final set; all these aspects make it more challenging than other Grand Slam tournaments, and players need a lot of strength, durability, and endurance.
Players need to be in perfect condition to play better on clay courts. There are several reasons behind that. First of all, on the clay court, the ball bounces higher, making it harder to play, especially for single-handed backhand players. Also, the slow surface helps players reach the ball easily, extending the rally. Finally, players need great stamina for these extended rallies.
Since the game on clay is like a marathon, the decisive 5th set becomes harder to play. However, injuries on this surface are lower than on grass or hard courts. The number of players that withdraw from injury during matches at Roland Garros is the lowest among the four grand slams.
Strangely, clay is the most taxing surface for your body and the least likely to hurt you. So, the answer to one of the most frequently asked questions about tennis tournaments is the French Open, also known as Roland Garros.
Who Has Won a Golden Slam?
Before answering the question, we need to define what Golden Slam is. A Golden Slam, or a Golden Grand Slam, is achieved by an athlete who wins all four Grand Slams, commonly known as tennis’ majors — the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open — as well as gold in the Olympic or Paralympic Games in the same year.
The Golden Slam is one of tennis’ most prestigious achievements. However, another achievement is also called the “Career Golden Slam.” Career Golden Slam, also known as Non-Calendar-Year Golden Slam, is winning all four tennis majors and a gold medal in the Olympic or Paralympic Games in a career.
Sure enough, few players achieved the Golden Slam title. However, for a long time, Steffi Graff held the title of the only tennis player who achieved the Golden Slam, and she was the first person who achieves this title in 1988.
Steffi Graff stayed as the only player who achieved the Golden Slam for over 30 years. However, in 2021 Diede de Groot, with her victory in the 2021 US Open women’s singles wheelchair final, became the first athlete in wheelchair tennis to complete a calendar Golden Slam.
Dylan Alcott became the first man to win a calendar Golden Slam when he won quad singles at the US Open in 2021. Alcott won in the Paralympics before winning all four singles majors in 2021. However, he participates in the quad division rather than the men’s wheelchair category.
Also, in 1999, Serena and Venus Williams completed their career Golden Slam in women’s doubles. Then, between 1999 and 2012, Serena Williams won a singles career Golden Slam, becoming the first tennis player to accomplish it in both singles and doubles. Meanwhile, in 2019, Alcott completed a career Golden Slam in quad wheelchair singles and doubles.
What Is the Most Watched Tennis Tournament?
Since it is the most famous tennis tournament, Wimbledon attracts millions of people worldwide. The BBC’s coverage of this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Grand Slam set a new streaming record with 53.8 million people making it the most watched tennis tournament.
Also, some particular matchups attract more viewers. For example, the most watched match is Serena Williams versus Ajla Tomljavonic, with 4.6 million viewers. The second match is also featuring Serena Williams. After that, the match was between Serena Williams versus Anett Kontaveit, with 3.6 million viewers. The third match on the list was between Carlos Alcaraz versus Frances Tiafoe, with 2.9 million viewers.
These statistics also proved Novak Djokovic, who won 21 Grand Slams, wrong. Viewership statistics have been a controversial subject after Novak Djokovic claimed women brought less crowd when equal payment topic was on the agenda in the tennis environment.
However, four of the six most-watched games belong to women. Another famous match was between Johanna Konta over Simona Halep. The triumph of Johanna Konta over Simona Halep in the 2017 Wimbledon Women’s Singles Quarterfinal created a new British television record for the women’s event, with a peak of 7.4 million viewers watching the BBC’s broadcast.
As mentioned above, Wimbledon is the most watched tennis tournament overall. The tournament has attracted more than 25 million viewers in the last two years. Wimbledon 2022 was watched by 25.5 million people on BBC TV during the event. 25.8 million people tuned in to witness the 2021 tournament.
On the other hand, on Friday, September 2, the US Open achieved an all-time single-day attendance record of 72,039 fans. For Roland Garros, the peak TV viewership of 6,444. million was reached at match point in the men’s singles final between Nadal and Ruud on France 2, accounting for 51.2% of the audience share, and in 2022 Australian Open also attracted more than 20 million viewers. With 22 million viewers, the 2022 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, had the greatest viewing in recent years.
What Tennis Tournament Pays the Most?
Among four events, US Open pays the most prize money to athletes. For the first time in tournament history, the total compensation for the 2022 Grand Slam is $60 million, exceeding the total compensation for the 2021 Grand Slam of $57.5 million.
The men’s and women’s winners were compensated with 2.5 million dollars. On the other hand, Wimbledon stated that the overall prize money pool for The Championships 2022 would be a record £40,350,000, with the Ladies’ and Gents’ Singles Champions collecting £2,000,000 apiece.
In 2022, the total prize money at Roland Garros was €43.6 million. The winners were awarded €2.2 million. The runner-up, the competitor who finishes second, is awarded €1.1 million. Compared to 2021, Roland Garros’ prize money for players increased significantly. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the compensation was decreased notably.
However, in 2022 the compensation for winners increased by almost 50%. The prize money was announced for the Australian Open, 75 million Australian Dollars. The winners were awarded 2.8 million Australian Dollars, while the runner-ups collected 1.5 million Australian Dollars.
Conclusion
Tennis is one of the most competitive sports. Therefore, this branch attracts millions of viewers with numerous tournaments. Even though some frequently asked questions about tennis tournaments have no exact answers, such as the most challenging court, most tennis enthusiasts and players agree on the clay court.
Also, tennis has a long history, making it a reputable sports branch—for example, Wimbledon’s traditions, such as all-white apparel, date back to 1877.
The competitiveness of tennis results in great games. Even though we talked about tournaments’ prize money, it is more than that for athletes. The reputation and rating only one Grand Slam brings are priceless for them.
Last but not least, most branches don’t have the Golden Slam title, and achieving a Career Golden Slam is more than enough to prove how good that player is.
