How does the Calendar Grand Slam in tennis compare to other near-impossible sports feats?

Ice hockey:

Martin Brodeu was a two-time Olympic winner and a notorious puck handler

Scoring a goal as a goaltender in an ice hockey game has to be a rarity, as the rules state that they cannot cross the halfway line of the playing surface. These goals have a lot of random circumstances surrounding them, which is confirmed by the statistic that only 11 players have managed to do it since the inaugural season of the NHL in 1917-18.

The first goal by a goaltender was scored by the New York Islanders’ Billy Smith in 1979 when his shot went off an opposition player into the net, while the latest one was Pheonix Coyotes’ Mike Smith in 2013.

There have also been goaltenders who have scored more than once in a game, although the record of Martin Brodeur makes him the most prolific one of the lot. The New Jersey Devils netminder scored twice against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2000 and also managed to better that 13 years later when he scored a hat-trick in his side’s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. His overall record of six goals makes up nearly 43 percent of the 14 goals that have been scored by the 11 players who have done it, certifying him as the greatest goalscoring goaltender in the history of the NHL.

While many will argue that the same should be the case for football, they could not be more wrong. Goalkeepers are not restricted to their box in football and they have the ability to roam around or score from set piece situations and penalties, as evident by Sao Paulo keeper Rogerio Ceni’s record of 130 goals over the span of his career.

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Basketball:

Wilt Chamberlain has been included in the NBA All-Star team 13 times

Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game for San Francisco Warriors against the New York Knicks in 1962 is one of the rarest moments in the history of the sport. The former center player shot 36 of 63 points from the field and made 28 of 32 free throws to help his side thrash their opponents in an incredible show, whilst setting up a near-impossible level to reach for any future stars.

The Bel-Air native eventually went on to become the only player to score more than 4,000 regular-season points, with the next highest being Michael Jordan’s 3,041 points in the 1986-87 season. He is also the only player to average at least 30 points and 20 rebounds per game over his entire professional basketball career.

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Golf:

Bobby Jones won 13 majors in his short career

While golf also employs a Grand Slam concept like tennis, the rare feat of winning four Majors in a season has been achieved only once so far. The legendary American amateur golfer Bobby Jones accomplished it in 1930 when he won the four biggest tournaments in the world at the time – the British Open, the US Open, the British Amateur and the US Amateur.

Despite being an amateur golfer who pursued law as a profession, Bobby was regarded as one of the most successful players of all time. He won many professional and amateur tournaments over his short career, beating top golf pros including the likes of Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, before his retirement from the sport at the age of 28.

The closest anyone else has come to beating this record is Tiger Woods, who won four Majors in a row but not in the same calendar year.

In the women’s game, Babe Didrikson won all three Majors in 1950. There has been one more added since then, and no woman has come close to winning four Majors in a year so far.