The most Grand Slam singles titles in tennis history is 24, a number that, remarkably, sits atop both lists: Novak Djokovic holds the men’s record with 24, and Margaret Court holds the women’s record with 24, with Serena Williams one agonizing title behind at 23, the most by any woman in the Open Era. Those three numbers anchor every greatest-of-all-time argument in the sport, and this weekend’s Wimbledon finals are the next chance for the chasing pack to move.
The lists are living documents right now. Djokovic, 38, is still actively hunting No. 25, he reached this year’s Australian Open final and lost it to Carlos Alcaraz, who in winning claimed his 7th major and became the youngest man ever to complete the career Grand Slam, at 22. A month ago Alexander Zverev finally broke through at the French Open, becoming the first man not named Alcaraz or Sinner to win a major since 2023. The all-time tables below are current through it all.
The chart covers everything: the men’s and women’s all-time top tens, the active leaders on both tours, the Court-versus-Serena asterisk debate, and the sport’s rarest achievements, calendar Slams and career Slams. Take a look, then we’ll break it all down.
Contents
The two 24s, and the asterisk wars
Tennis’ record book has a symmetry no one designed: 24 and 24. Novak Djokovic’s men’s record was built entirely against Open Era professional fields, the last of them won at 36, and he remains on tour at 38 chasing No. 25, having reached this January’s Australian Open final before Alcaraz stopped him. Margaret Court’s women’s 24 is older and more contested: 13 of her titles predate the 1968 Open Era, including a stack of Australian Opens played in years when much of the world’s elite skipped the voyage south, which is why Serena Williams’ 23, all of them against professional fields, the last won while pregnant, is widely treated as the “real” modern benchmark and listed separately as the Open Era record. The honest answer is that both numbers are true and the debate is about eras, not arithmetic, and the men’s side hides the mirror-image case: Rod Laver’s 11 comes with roughly twenty missing majors, banned as a professional during his prime, with calendar Slams won on both sides of the divide as proof of what the gap swallowed.
Behind the summits: the shape of both lists
The men’s list is a story of one twenty-year anomaly: Djokovic (24), Nadal (22, with an unfathomable 14 French Opens), and Federer (20, with a record 8 Wimbledons) won 66 of the 78 majors contested from 2003 through 2023, reducing Pete Sampras’ once-untouchable 14 to fourth place and leaving legends like Borg, Laver, and Tilden as historical footholds further down. The women’s list is deeper in eras: Steffi Graf’s 22 includes the only Golden Slam ever played (all four majors plus Olympic gold, 1988); Helen Wills Moody’s 19 ruled the pre-war decades; and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, after the fiercest rivalry the sport has known, finished dead level at 18 apiece. Below them sit the great what-ifs, Monica Seles and Maureen Connolly, both at 9, both careers severed at their absolute peaks.
The lists are moving again: the 2026 state of play
After two decades of frozen summits, the tables are live. Carlos Alcaraz’s Australian Open win in January, over Djokovic in the final, made him the youngest man ever to complete the career Grand Slam, at 22, and lifted him to 7 majors before turning 24; Jannik Sinner sits at 4 and defends Wimbledon this fortnight. Alexander Zverev’s French Open breakthrough last month ended the Alcaraz-Sinner run of nine consecutive majors, the first outsider to win since 2023. On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek leads actives with 6 and also defends Wimbledon this weekend; Aryna Sabalenka holds 4 with runner-up finishes at both 2026 majors; and the year has already minted Mirra Andreeva (first major, at 19, the youngest French Open champion since Seles) and restored Elena Rybakina (second). The finals on July 11-12 will move at least one number on this page, and Djokovic’s hunt for 25, at an age that would make him the oldest major champion of the Open Era, remains the sport’s most-watched countdown.
Final Word
Most Grand Slam titles, all-time: Djokovic 24 and Court 24 atop the two lists, Serena’s 23 as the Open Era women’s record, Nadal and Federer completing men’s tennis’ great triumvirate, Graf’s Golden Slam standing alone since 1988, and a new generation, Alcaraz’s 7 with a career Slam at 22, Swiatek’s 6, Sinner’s 4, finally putting the tables back in motion. The asterisk debates (Court’s amateur-era 13, Laver’s stolen prime) are permanent features, not bugs: they’re what happens when a record book spans a century. Updated after every major; Wimbledon’s finals are next.
The names on this fortnight’s silverware live in Wimbledon champions by year, the hardware itself is decoded in the Wimbledon trophies explained, and what champions earn is in Wimbledon prize money by year.