Grand slam

The term grand slam has been in use since the early 1800s. We will examine the meaning of the idiom grand slam, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

A grand slam describes the act of winning all the contests available in a certain sport, such as golf or tennis. Interestingly, the idiom grand slam is taken from the card game of bridge. In bridge, a grand slam is the act of taking all thirteen tricks in a hand. As one may imagine, this is a difficult feat. The term grand slam was first used to describe sporting contests in the 1930s. In tennis, a grand slam occurs when a player wins the French Open, American Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon Championship in the same calendar year. In golf, a grand slam occurs when a player wins the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship in the same calendar year. In American baseball, a grand slam occurs when a batter hits a home run with the bases loaded, thereby scoring four runs.

Examples

Whether it was played on the grass courts of Kooyong or the Rebound Ace and Plexicushion surfaces in Melbourne, the Australian Open – one of the four Grand Slams in professional tennis – was the site of many a major breakthrough for years on the men’s side. (Rolling Stone Magazine)

Kei Nishikori swept into the third round of “The Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific”, then lamented the fact the world’s most populous continent was still struggling to produce more players capable of ending their grand slam men’s singles drought. (Reuters)

The risk/reward in bidding a Grand Slam is not great and that goes beyond the scoring as picking yourself up off the ground after a failed Grand will not be easy. (The Royal Gazette)