Imagine being Rod Laver in 1963: you’re one of the best tennis players on Earth, but the sport’s biggest stages—the Grand Slams—are closed to you because you’ve turned professional. Then, in 1968, that wall finally cracks. Professionals walk into major tournaments, amateurs meet them across the net, and tennis begins its transformation from a divided sport into the global spectacle we know today.
That shift was called the Open Era. It didn’t make every problem disappear overnight, and the Grand Slams didn’t all open their doors at once. But it changed who could compete, how players could earn a living, and what a major tennis tournament could become. To understand modern tennis—the packed draws, the worldwide tours, the big-money matches—you have to start with that remarkable break in 1968.
Before 1968, tennis had two worlds
For decades, elite tennis was split between amateur tournaments and professional tours. The Grand Slams, Davis Cup and many prestigious events were reserved for amateurs. If a player accepted professional status, they could earn money playing tennis—but they were barred from those amateur competitions.
On paper, the arrangement upheld the ideal of amateur sport. In practice, it could be murky. Top amateurs might receive travel expenses or other forms of support, while professional players competed for pay on a separate circuit. The strongest players were not necessarily all in the same tournaments.
That division had a human cost. Australian great Rod Laver won the Grand Slam—the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US championships—in 1962 as an amateur. After turning professional, he was excluded from the majors for five years. He could keep competing, and earning, but not at those tournaments. When the barriers came down, Laver returned to the majors and won all four again in 1969. His story makes the change feel real: the Open Era reunited the sport’s leading players, not just its rulebooks.
What “open” actually meant
“Open” meant that tournaments could admit both amateurs and professionals. It did not mean every event instantly became a fully professional tour, nor did it guarantee equal prize money or a level playing field in every respect. It meant a player’s status no longer automatically barred them from the biggest competitions.
The first tournament to take that step was the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth, England, which began on April 22, 1968. Professionals and amateurs competed together. A few weeks later, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to open its draw to both groups. Ken Rosewall, a professional, won the men’s title, while Nancy Richey won the women’s.
The other majors followed during 1968, with one important exception: the Australian Championships joined the Open Era in 1969. The change was historic, but it happened in stages.
| Milestone | What happened |
|---|---|
| April 1968 | The Bournemouth tournament welcomes professionals and amateurs. |
| May 1968 | The French Championships becomes the first open Grand Slam. |
| June–September 1968 | Wimbledon and the US Championships also stage open tournaments. |
| 1969 | The Australian Championships joins, bringing all four majors into the Open Era. |
The Grand Slams became genuine tests of the best
Before the change, a Grand Slam title could not always settle the question of who was the strongest player in the world. Some leading professionals were simply ineligible. Once the majors opened, tennis could offer a more convincing answer: put the best available players into the same draw and let them compete.
The 1968 results underline that new mix. At Wimbledon, Laver beat fellow Australian Tony Roche in the men’s final, while Billie Jean King defeated Judy Tegart in the women’s. At the US Championships, Arthur Ashe beat Dutch professional Tom Okker in a five-set men’s final. Virginia Wade won the women’s title. Those champions came from a tennis landscape that had previously separated players by professional status.
Open draws also gave Grand Slam victories greater meaning to fans. A major champion had beaten a field that could include established professionals as well as the best-known amateurs. The tournaments were not suddenly perfect measures of playing strength—surfaces, travel and uneven access still mattered—but they had taken a huge step toward becoming the sport’s central championships for everyone.
There was another milestone hiding in those early results: Ashe’s US Open win made him the first Black man to win a major singles title. The Open Era did not create that achievement, but a sport with its doors more fully open gave such moments a stage that reached far beyond the old amateur-professional divide.
Players could build careers around tennis
Opening the majors helped turn tennis into a more viable profession. Players could compete for prize money at the tournaments that mattered most, rather than choosing between a professional career and Grand Slam eligibility. That made it easier to treat training, travel and competition as the work of a lifetime—not as an activity that had to be disguised as amateur recreation.
But don’t picture an instant financial revolution. Early prize money was modest by modern standards, and tournament earnings varied. Women also faced a sharp pay gap. Open access meant women could compete in the same major tournaments, but equal access did not mean equal rewards. Billie Jean King and other leading players continued to push for fairer treatment; the US Open became the first major to offer equal prize money in 1973.
The sport’s institutions changed, too. Players wanted a stronger voice in the events and tours shaping their working lives. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) was formed in 1972, with players organizing to represent their interests. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), founded in 1973, gave women players a collective platform as the women’s game developed its own tour structure.
These organizations were not a direct switch flipped by the 1968 decision. They were part of the larger shift it made possible: tennis players increasingly saw themselves as professionals who needed representation, reliable competition and a sustainable way to earn.
More than money: a different kind of competition
Putting professional and amateur players in the same draw changed the competitive picture as well as the economics. The pro circuit had long featured champions with deep experience and polished, repeatable games. Now they could face emerging players who had been learning their craft in the amateur system. Fans could watch those styles collide at the biggest events instead of comparing results from separate worlds.
Laver is a vivid example of what reunification brought. He was an attacking, all-court player who could take the ball early, move forward and finish at the net, yet he also had the touch and speed to defend and counter. Seeing a champion of his stature back in the majors gave fans an immediate measure of the talent that had been missing. His 1969 calendar-year Grand Slam—winning all four majors in a single year—made the new era’s possibilities impossible to ignore.
Open status didn’t dictate how tennis should be played. The grass-court rush to the net remained a valuable tactic, while clay demanded patience, heavy topspin and disciplined movement. What changed was the chance to see a wider collection of top-level competitors test their games against one another on those surfaces. The majors became richer sporting contests because the field could include players previously divided by employment status.
A gradual change, not a magic switch
It’s tempting to treat 1968 as the moment tennis became modern in every way. The truth is more interesting. The Open Era began a process. The Australian Championships did not join until 1969. Prize money remained limited, women’s earnings were far below men’s at many events, and players still had to negotiate a complicated world of promoters, tournaments and competing tours.
Nor did the professional game begin in 1968. Professional tennis had existed for years, with its own events and celebrated champions. The breakthrough was that professionals could now enter the sport’s most important championships. The Open Era connected two established branches of tennis and gave them a shared competitive stage.
That distinction matters when looking at the sport today. The modern calendar, with its major tournaments, player organizations and international competition, grew through many decisions over many years. But 1968 supplied the essential principle: the biggest tennis events should be open to the best players, whatever their status.
Why the Open Era still matters
When a champion lifts a Grand Slam trophy today, fans expect that the draw brought together the sport’s leading players. That expectation is part of the Open Era’s lasting gift. It helped make a major title a clearer measure of achievement, gave players a path toward earning a living from competition, and helped tennis grow into an international professional sport.
The next time you watch a major final, remember the absurdity that once kept a player such as Laver away from the biggest tournaments for years. In 1968, tennis started to leave that split behind. The first open draw was a practical rule change—but it opened the game’s front door.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Open Era begin?
The Open Era began in 1968. The first tournament to admit both amateur and professional players was the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth, which started on April 22.
Which Grand Slam was the first to become open?
The French Championships was the first open Grand Slam, in 1968. Wimbledon and the US Championships also opened their fields that year. The Australian Championships followed in 1969.
Why were professional players barred from the majors before 1968?
The major tournaments were officially amateur competitions. Players who turned professional could earn money on separate tours, but they lost eligibility for those events. The Open Era removed that dividing line at open tournaments.
Did the Open Era immediately bring equal prize money?
No. It allowed professionals and amateurs to compete together, but pay remained unequal, especially for women. The US Open introduced equal prize money for men and women in 1973.
Final Thoughts
The Open Era did not solve every problem in tennis, and it did not arrive everywhere at once. But it reunited the sport’s top players, gave the Grand Slams a stronger claim to being true tests of excellence, and helped make a professional tennis career more realistic. In 1968, tennis didn’t just change who could enter the draw. It changed what the draw meant.
