- Who
- Helen Wills Moody, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf
- What
- 10 total number
- Where
- Not Applicable ()
- When
Helen Wills Moody (USA, 1905–98), Margaret Court (Australia) and Steffi Graf (Germany) all defended 10 Grand Slam singles titles during the course of their careers. Nineteen-time Grand Slam winner Wills Moody did it first, between 1924 and 1933; Court, winner of 24 Slams spanning pre- and post-open era tennis, matched the feat between 1961 and 1971 (including eight times at the Australian Open); Graf joined Wills Moody and Court by securing her 10th title defence at the US Open in 1996. Her first title defence occurred at the French Open in 1988.
The leading male player for Grand Slam singles title defences has also achieved it 10 times: Roger Federer claimed his 10th defence at the 2018 Australian Open, more than 13 years after successfully defending his maiden Grand Slam title, won at Wimbledon in 2003, when he triumphed at SW19 in the summer of 2004. Rafael Nadal moved to nine title defences by winning the French Open in 2019.
In the women’s game, Martina Navratilova (8), Chris Evert (6) and the still-active 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams (6) trail Wills Moody, Court and Graf.
