What Is A Golden Set In Tennis?

A golden set is achieved when a player wins every point in a set, shutting out their opponent in the set and every game within the set. This means that a player must win 24 consecutive points with their opponent not scoring a point once. You need four points to win each game and need to win six games to win the set, for a total of 24 points. This can happen at any point in any match but must all be within the same set. This is one of the rarest achievements in tennis because of how difficult it is to win 24 points in a row.

How Rare Is A Golden Set?

A golden set is easily one of the most rare achievements in all of tennis. Only two players in the history of the sport have achieved the feat at a top-level professional competition. The first person to win a golden set was Bill Scanlon in 1983. He achieved the feat on the men's tour in Delray Beach, Florida against Marcos Hocevar and is the only professional male player to ever win a golden set. 

The only other player to ever achieve a professional golden set was Yaroslava Shvedova in 2012. She won her golden set at a much more high-profile event than Scanlon, achieving the feat at Wimbledon in 2012. The 29 years between the only two golden sets shows just how rare of an event it is and why it could be a while until we witness another one.

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