Competition hub

Tennis majors

Four tournaments sit above the rest of the tennis calendar. They are not run by a single governing authority, they are played on three different surfaces, and they are the only events where the longest match format in the sport applies.

The four tournaments

Each major is owned and run by a national association or a national body, not by the professional tours. That is why their entry rules, schedules and formats are set locally and can differ from the rest of the year.

The four majors, in calendar order. Dates are typical windows rather than fixed fixtures.
Tournament	Typical window	Surface
Australian Open	January	Hard court, outdoors
French Open	Late May to early June	Clay
Wimbledon	Late June to mid-July	Grass
US Open	Late August to mid-September	Hard court, outdoors

The surface is not incidental. Clay slows the ball and produces higher bounces, rewarding patience and physically demanding rallies; grass keeps the ball low and fast, rewarding a strong serve and early aggression and shortening rallies. Because the four are played in sequence and on different surfaces, the majors reward adaptability across a single season in a way no other tennis event does.

How the events are structured

Draw and seeding

Singles events at the majors are the largest in the sport — a 128-player draw for the men's and women's singles. A single-elimination format at that size requires seven wins for a champion.

A fixed number of players — 32 in recent years — are seeded and placed at set points in the draw so the strongest entrants cannot meet early. The remaining places are filled by direct entry based on ranking, by qualifiers who come through a preliminary event held at the same venue, and by wildcards awarded at the tournament's discretion. Wildcards are the main route by which a host nation's lower-ranked players reach the main draw.

Duration and scheduling

Each major runs over approximately two weeks, with rounds played in sequence. Because matches at this level can last several hours, scheduling is a genuine constraint: a long match can push a later match late into the evening, and the way a tournament handles that — and protects players from being scheduled unreasonably — has been the subject of repeated rules changes, including the introduction of a match tie-break in the deciding set at some events.

Match format — currently contested

Best-of-five is under discussion, not settled

Men's singles at the majors has historically been played as best of five sets, with women's singles best of three. In September 2026, senior figures in the sport — including the incoming chief executive of Tennis Australia — publicly called for best-of-five to be reduced at the majors, and an official suggested a change to scoring was possible.

No change had been confirmed at the date checked below. This page therefore states the long-standing format and flags that it is being actively debated, rather than presenting it as settled. Confirm the current format with the tournament before relying on it.

What the terminology means

Two phrases are constantly used and often conflated, so they are worth separating.

A Grand Slam is winning all four majors in a single calendar year. It is a season-long achievement, and rare enough that it is treated as historic.
A career Grand Slam is winning all four at some point across a career, in any order and across any number of years. It is demanding for a different reason: it requires each surface to be mastered at least once.

Separately, the Olympic tournament is contested in a condensed format and is not counted within the majors, although winning it alongside the four is a distinctive career achievement in its own right.

Why the majors are worth more than ranking points

The majors carry the largest ranking points, the longest formats in the sport and the strongest fields, and they are the only events where every leading player is expected to enter. A player's career is measured primarily in them rather than in titles overall — which is exactly why a change to match length at the majors would alter the sport's central test rather than a minor regulation.

Key terms

Terminology specific to the majors.
Term	What it means	Why it matters
Major	One of the four Grand Slam tournaments.	The events around which a player's career is measured.
Seed	A ranked player placed at a fixed point in the draw.	Keeps the leading entrants apart in the early rounds.
Qualifying	A preliminary event that grants entry to the main draw.	How players outside the entry cut reach the tournament.
Wildcard	An entry awarded at the tournament's discretion.	The main route for host-nation lower-ranked players.
Deciding-set tie-break	A points race replacing indefinite play in the final set.	Introduced at these events to limit match length.
Grand Slam	All four majors won in one calendar year.	Distinct from a career Grand Slam.

What to check at the source

Match format — best-of-five for men's singles is under active discussion as of September 2026. Check the individual tournament.
Dates and scheduling rules — dates shift slightly year to year, and scheduling policy has been revised repeatedly.
Draw size and seeding — checked values are stated below, but both have been adjusted historically.

Figures checked: The number of majors, their typical windows and surfaces, and the 128-player draw with 32 seeds were checked on 19 September 2026 and are stated in the table and summary panel above. The best-of-five question is reported as an open discussion rather than settled.
Editorial review: Not carried out. No independent review has taken place.