3 tennis players who have won Grand Slams during the Open Era while representing multiple nations ft. Monica Seles

Monica Seles is perhaps the greatest tennis player to win a Grand Slam while representing multiple nations.

Representing more than one country is not an unusual occurrence in any sport. In recent times, the likes of Daria Saville, Ivan Dodig, Johanna Konta, Cameron Norrie and Elena Rybakina have all done so.

Rybakina, for example, started her career representing Russia before switching allegiances to Kazakhstan in 2018. She won Wimbledon this year, becoming the first player from Kazakhstan to win a Grand Slam singles title. However, winning a Grand Slam while representing multiple nations is a feat very few have been able to achieve.

On that note, let’s take a look at three tennis players who won Majors while representing more than one country:

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#1 Monica Seles

Monica Seles is one of the greatest tennis players of all time and dominated the sport in the early 90s. She started her career representing Yugoslavia and won her first Grand Slam at the French Open in 1990, beating Steffi Graf in the final.

The following year, Seles triumphed at three of the four Majors, missing out on Wimbledon as she did not compete. She won three Grand Slams for the second year running in 1992 and made the Wimbledon final as well, losing to Graf.

Seles won the Australian Open in 1993 before being stabbed a few months later during a match against Magdalena Maleeva at Hamburg. As a result, the former World No. 1 was out of action for over two years.

Seles became an American citizen in 1994 and represented the nation when she returned to tennis in 1995. While she did manage to win a few big tournaments, she lost the killer instinct that made her such a feared competitor in her prime.

Seles won one Major while representing the United States. This came at the Australian Open in 1996, where she beat Anke Huber 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

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#2 Hana Mandlikova

Hana Mandlikova was born in Prague and began her tennis career representing Czechoslovakia. She won her first Grand Slam title at the 1980 Australian Open aged just 18 by defeating Wendy Turnbull in the final.

At a time when Martina Navratilova was a dominant force in women's tennis, Mandlikova managed to bag a few Majors, winning the French Open in 1981, the US Open in 1985 and another Australian Open title in 1987.

The four-time Grand Slam singles champion became an Australian citizen in 1988 and started representing the nation in tennis. Mandlikova triumphed in doubles at the 1989 US Open with Navratilova as her partner. The pair beat the American duo of Mary Joe Fernandez and Pam Shriver 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

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#3 Johan Kriek

Johan Kriek won two Grand Slam singles titles during his career. The first of these came at the Australian Open in 1981, representing South Africa.

Back then, most of the top players did not compete at the Asia-Pacific Major and Kriek was seeded fourth in the tournament. He reached the semifinals with wins over Drew Gitlin, Thomas Hogstedt, Chris Lewis and Tim Mayotte.

He then beat Mark Edmondson 6-0, 7-6, 7-5 to set up a final clash against Steve Denton. Kriek beat the American 6-2, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 to win his first Grand Slam singles title.

Kriek became an American citizen in 1982 and immediately began representing the United States in tournaments. He was seeded first at the Australian Open that year and reached the semifinals, where he overcame Paul McNamee in five sets to set up another final with Denton.

He won 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to successfully defend his title at the Australian Open.