First male tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title in three different decades

Australia’s Ken Rosewall was the first man to win Grand Slam singles titles in three different decades. He claimed four trophies in the 1950s (1953 and 1956 Australian Opens; 1953 French Open; 1956 US Open), one in the 1960s (1968 French Open, the first Grand Slam to be held in the open era) and three in the 1970s (1970 US Open; 1971 and 1972 Australian Opens). Rosewall achieved the longest span of Grand Slam singles titles, with 19 years between his first (1953 Australian Open) and last (1972 Australian Open) triumphs. He won the latter at the age of 37 years 62 days.

The first woman – and first tennis player overall – to win titles in three different decades was Blanche Bingley Hillyard (UK), who won all of her six Grand Slams at Wimbledon – in 1886, 1889, 1894, 1897, 1899 and 1900.

Martina Navratilova (1970s-1980s-1990s) and Serena Williams (1990s-2000s-2010s) were the second and third players to win Grand Slam singles tournaments in three decades, and Novak Djokovic (2000s-2010s-2020s) joined them by winning the 2020 Australian Open on 2 February. In doing so, Djokovic became the first male player to win Grand Slam singles titles in three different decades in the open era (since 1968).