Grand Slam

Grand Slam is a general sports term applied when achieving something special. The term originated in bridge, but has come to be applied to remarkable feats in many different sports, especially winning all of a sport's "major" events in a given year. Generally a "Grand Slam" is associated with achieving at least four feats simultaneously or in succession; achievements of three of a kind are typically termed Triple Crowns or hat-tricks instead.

Related Topics:
Sport - Bridge - Triple Crown - Hat-trick

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Most common uses:

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• In tennis, winning the Grand Slam is holding the following titles in the same calendar year: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open. Those tournaments are therefore also known as the Grand Slam tournaments. Past winners include Steffi Graf and Rod Laver.
• In real tennis, a similar situation pertains, as winning the Grand Slam is holding the following titles in the same calendar year: Australian Open, British Open, French Open, and U.S. Open.
• In rugby union, a Grand Slam is the beating of all opponents during the Six Nations Championship (previously Five Nations Tournament); the term was probably first used in 1957 when The Times used the expression ‘Grand Slam’ to describe England's four wins in the (then) Five Nations Tournament. The term is also used when a touring team manages to beat all four home nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland), a feat achieved once by Australia (1984) and New Zealand and three times by South Africa.

::See also: Rugby Union Six Nations Championship, Triple Crown, Wooden Spoon

Related Topics:
Rugby Union Six Nations Championship - Triple Crown - Wooden Spoon

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• In golf, the modern Grand Slam is winning the following four tournaments in the same year: The Masters, US Open, The Open Championship, PGA Championship. (Before the founding of The Masters and the ascension of the PGA Championship, the U.S. and British Amateurs were considered part of the four majors.)
• In baseball, a grand slam is a home run with all the bases occupied, thereby scoring 4 runs, which is the most possible on one swing of the bat. The baseball usage is thought to have been coined by comparison to the term in bridge.
• In bridge, it is bidding for and winning all the tricks in one hand.
• In snooker, winning the Grand Slam is holding the following 8 titles at the same time: LG Cup, British Open, UK Championships, Irish Masters, Welsh Open, European Open, Players Championships and Embassy World Championship (Sheffield)
• In ski jumping, winning the Grand Slam is winning the Four Hills Tournament. These 4 tournaments are held in Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (both in Germany), Innsbruck and Bischofshofen (both in Austria).
• In professional wrestling, especially World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a Grand Slam winner is an athlete who wins every single title/championship that is available to him or her (meaning that a wrestler has to win every single championship in any category that he qualified in). Past Grand Slam winners in the WWE include Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chris Jericho.

Other meanings:

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• Grand Slam bomb was a larger version of the Tallboy bunker buster bomb developed by Barnes Wallis in World War II for the RAF.
• A TV quiz-show shown in the UK in 2003. Contestants had to pay £1,000 to take part.
• A 1999 album by Australian band Spiderbait.
• A popular, low price breakfast at U.S. nationwide restaurant chain Denny's, consisting of pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage.
• A 1978 Welsh TV movie comedy, starring Windsor Davies and Sion Probert. It is set in Paris, where a Welsh rugby club visit to see the Grand Slam against France. It is regarded as iconic by the Welsh, and is as just as popular in Australia.
• Operation Grand Slam: A plan by Auric Goldfinger to "heist" Fort Knox.