The 'Only Slams Will Do' Club

[NothingButNet]

Too lazy to trawl the web...plus the TTW hive mind is rumoured to be superior.

Two questions:

• Across a full season, has any player won ONLY SLAMS and no other title?

Federer at some point will undoubtedly earn the right to create such a joke of a schedule that he'll blatantly only be playing warm-up tourneys (and tanking out at the latter stages) so that he'll be fresh for Grand Slams. Well, non-clay ones anyway

• Has any player ever ended their career with a Grand Slam title as THE ONLY tour-level title they have to their name?

Yes, she's only at the beginning of her career, but Jelena Ostapenko is technically currently in the running.


Looking to find out which, if any, player has ever made a similar mockery of the tour?

Ad-hoc pairings in Doubles and Mixed don't count, 'cause those can sometimes be one-off partnerships that go on a tear during a Slam and break up right after.

Is it feasible?????

 

[TahoeTennis]

Guga

 

[buscemi]

Thomas Johansson only won the Australian Open in 2002.

 

[NatF]

Thomas Johansson only won the Australian Open in 2002.

Good recall, injury knocked him out for most of 2002 IIRC.

 

[NothingButNet]

Guga

Gustavo Kuerten, nicknamed Guga, is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil. He won the French Open singles title three times, and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Kuerten

Does this Masters title not count because it was an outdated Bo5?

 

[NothingButNet]

Thomas Johansson only won the Australian Open in 2002.

Good recall, injury knocked him out for most of 2002 IIRC.

Ahh, so he didn't really have a full season.

Winning a Slam out of the blue doesn't guarantee you success at the 'lower' Tour level, but would you think he'd have at least picked up a title later on that year?

Prior to that (and afterwards, too) he'd averaged at least one title a year, in some cases two. And that was his breakout Slam.

I'd say he would have were it not for the injury, but valid nonetheless...thanks!

 

[Waspsting]

Some guy named Sampras did it 2002

 

[TahoeTennis]

Gustavo Kuerten, nicknamed Guga, is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil. He won the French Open singles title three times, and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Kuerten

Does this Masters title not count because it was an outdated Bo5?

Guess you're not too lazy to trawl, but you're definitely a troll.

 

[NothingButNet]

Guess you're not too lazy to trawl, but you're definitely a troll.

What can I say - you got me!

A good troll's good for the soul

 

[NothingButNet]

Some guy named Sampras did it 2002

Just checking, this Sampars dude you mentioned seemed to be on a roll in 2002, but I think he buckled under the weight of expectation following the win and bolted straight after the ceremony, never to be seen again........

 

[buscemi]

Rafter only won the U.S. Open in 1997. He made six other finals that year but lost them all.

 

[fedtennisphan]

What can I say - you got me!

A good troll's good for the soul

The only people who care about Federer’s schedule are the ones obsessed about the GS record. If Federer had the same schedule, but won no GS, ****s wouldn’t care.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

also goran (2001) and pat (1997, despite many finals)... it's not that rare !
krajicek (1996), safin (2005)...

 

[Moose Malloy]

Martina won only 2 events in 1987 - Wimbledon and the USO. World #1 that year was Graf. The only matches she lost that year were the Wimbledon and USO finals. A very unique year.

 

[Max G.]

• Has any player ever ended their career with a Grand Slam title as THE ONLY tour-level title they have to their name?

None in mens singles in the open era.

 

[NothingButNet]

Martina won only 2 events in 1987 - Wimbledon and the USO. World #1 that year was Graf. The only matches she lost that year were the Wimbledon and USO finals. A very unique year.

MartinaTrueGOAT

 

[Bukmeikara]

Muguruza didnt reach another final between her RG 16 - WImbledon 17 titles. Noting is given at the very top

 

[mike danny]

Hasn't Ostapenko just won a small title after her FO triumph?

 

[mike danny]

@NothingButNet, I just checked. Ostapenko has also won Korea Open this year.

 

[NothingButNet]

Hasn't Ostapenko just won a small title after her FO triumph?

Yep, Ostapenko's now lost her chance to enter the pantheon of Slam-Only GOATS

 

[Xavier G]

Martina won only 2 events in 1987 - Wimbledon and the USO. World #1 that year was Graf. The only matches she lost that year were the Wimbledon and USO finals. A very unique year.

According to the WTA site, Martina Navratilova also won the Filderstadt and Chicago titles in 1987 as well as Wimbledon and the USO.
From memory of the old ATP Tennis Yearbooks, I think that's right too, that Martina won 4 events in '87.