It is one of few tournaments and the only Grand Slam event that is still played on grass courts, [82] tennis's original surface, and where "lawn tennis" originated in the 1800s. By the 1950s, largely due to efforts of player/promoter Jack Kramer, this lucrative parallel circuit was luring in most of the star amateurs on the men's side, much to the ire of the ILTF and organizers of the Grand Slam tournaments. Analyst Hal Bock of Associated Press criticized the traditionalists who point to the calendar to defend the sanctity of the accomplishment, describing them as "self-appointed guardians, who use nothing more substantial than the flimsy pages of the calendar to brush away the achievement. Organized by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), [97] previously known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) until 1920, [98] and as United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) until 1975, [99] it is the only Grand Slam tournament to have been played every year since its inception.

In doubles, a team may accomplish the Grand Slam playing together or a player may achieve it with different partners. It was first held in 1891 on the sand courts of the Societé de Sport de Île de Puteaux, in Puteaux, Île-de-France, [63] [l] and repeatedly changed venues over the years before settling on the clay courts at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France, where it has been contested since 1928.In June 2017, Russell Jackson wrote that Court had always held controversial views, which he described as "stubbornly immovable", citing her support for apartheid in 1970 ("South Africans have this thing better organised than any other country, particularly America") and her criticisms of Navratilova in 1990 ("a great player but I'd like someone at the top who the younger players can look up to. Won her first singles title at the Australian Championships, but lost the junior girls final there to Lesley Turner Bowrey.

A player who wins a major title on each of those three current surfaces in a calendar year is said to have achieved a "Surface Slam". The first player to win all four majors in a calendar year and thus complete the Grand Slam was Don Budge in 1938. In 1978, it moved to the hardcourts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, where it has been contested ever since. A "Boxed Set" refers to winning one of every possible major title in the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles disciplines throughout a player's career.Similarly, the term "non-calendar-year Golden Slam" has been used since 2013, when Bob and Mike Bryan won the 2012 Olympics, 2012 US Open, 2013 Australian Open, 2013 French Open and 2013 Wimbledon Championships doubles titles consecutively.