5 youngest men's players to win a Grand Slam

Spanish Rafael Nadal celebrates winning

Winning a Grand Slam title is every tennis player's dream. To do so before turning 20 is an incredible feat. It takes incredible skill, stamina, and mental toughness, amongst many other assets to win a Grand Slam at such a young age.

With the dominance of the "Big 4" (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray) in today's world, it is difficult to imagine a teenager going on to win a Grand Slam.

There are a lot of talented youngsters out there but they have not yet reached the level of a Federer or a Nadal.

In fact, the last time a player below the age of 20 won a Grand Slam was more than a decade ago. So, let's take a look at five of the youngest men's players to have won a Grand Slam.

#5 Rafael Nadal* (19 years, 3 days)

The King of Clay, to this date, remains the fifth youngest men's player to have won a Grand Slam title and the tenth youngest overall.

He won his first Grand Slam just three days after turning nineteen at the French Open in 2004 by defeating Mariano Puerta in four sets - 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 6–1, 7–5. As we all know, he did not stop there. He went on to break every possible record on clay and currently holds 11 French Open titles, the most by any player on the surface.

He has a total of 17 Grand Slam titles to his name, with 3 US Open titles, 2 Wimbledon titles, and 1 Australian Open title in addition to the 11 titles at Roland Garros. He is only second behind Roger Federer in the list of most number of Grand Slams won by a single player in the men's category.

Nadal has also held the world no. 1 rank on a number of occasions.

*still active

#4 Bjorn Borg (18 years, 10 days)

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship

The former world no. 1 from Sweden was arguably the greatest tennis player of his generation. He formed a formidable rivalry with a lot of tennis stars, including John McEnroe, with whom he had numerous close-fought encounters.

Borg won his first title when he was just 18 years old by defeating Manuel Orantes in the 1974 French Open final in five sets.

He went on to win a total of 11 Grand Slam titles (6 Wimbledon, 5 French Open) before retiring at the young age of 26.

#3 Mats Wilander (17 years, 293 days)

French Open Tennis Championship

To this date, Mats Wilander remains the only men's player to have won four Grand Slam titles before turning 20.

He won his first title in 1982 at the age of 17 as an unseeded player by defeating Guillermo Vilas at the French Open in 4 sets.

He won a total of 7 Grand Slam titles before retiring at the age of 32. He never managed to win Wimbledon, despite winning the Australian Open, which was played on grass courts at the time, thrice.

#2 Boris Becker (17 years, 228 days)

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship

The enigmatic tennis star from Germany was the youngest ever to win a Grand Slam title when he did so by defeating Kevin Curran in the final at Wimbledon in 1985. At that time, he was also the first unseeded player to have won the title there.

Over the course of his career, he went on to win a total of six Grand Slam titles, including three at Wimbledon, two at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open. He never managed to win the French Open, reaching the semifinals of the event on three occasions.

More than a decade after retiring, he coached Novak Djokovic for three years, helping the Serb win multiple Grand Slam titles.

#1 Michael Chang (17 years, 110 days)

Michael Chang at 1989 French Open

At the age of 17 years and 110 days, Michael Chang remains the youngest men's player to have won a Grand Slam title.

He achieved the feat by winning the French Open in 1989, defeating the great Stefan Edberg in five grueling sets of tennis. Unfortunately, he did not manage to win a single slam after that. He did manage to reach the final of the Australian Open and US Open in 1996 but fell short in the final hurdle.

He retired in 2003 and has been coaching Japanese sensation Kei Nishikori since January 2014.

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