Sania Mirza became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title by winning the mixed doubles at which tournament?

The correct answer is B, Wimbledon. The Championships were first played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London in 1877, which makes Wimbledon the oldest tennis tournament in the world. That first edition had only a gentlemen's singles event; the ladies' singles was added in 1884.

Option A, the US Open, began in 1881 as the US National Championship, four years after Wimbledon, and is the second oldest of the four. Option C, the French Open, dates from 1891 but stayed a national event, open only to members of French clubs, until 1925, so it is often shown as the youngest in international terms while still older than the Australian event. Option D, the Australian Open, was first held in 1905 as the Australasian Championships and is the newest of the four. Fixing the order 1877, 1881, 1891, 1905 in memory settles every question of this kind.

The correct answer is C, French Open. Played at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris in May and June, it is the only Major contested on clay, and its red crushed brick surface slows the ball and makes it bounce high, so rallies are long and a patient baseline player is favoured.

Option A, Wimbledon, is the only Major played on grass, the fastest of the surfaces, where the ball skids low and the serve counts for far more. Option B, the Australian Open, and option D, the US Open, are both played on hard courts, an acrylic layer over concrete or asphalt whose speed sits between grass and clay. Because the French Open falls immediately before Wimbledon in the calendar, candidates often swap the two surfaces in a hurry, so it helps to remember the single sentence: only Wimbledon is grass and only the French Open is clay.

The correct answer is B, Venus Rosewater Dish. The ladies' singles champion at Wimbledon receives a sterling silver salver, a flat dish rather than a cup, decorated with figures from classical mythology, and it has been awarded since 1886. The men's champion, by contrast, lifts the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy, a gilded silver cup.

Option A, the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, goes to the women's singles champion at the Australian Open and is named after a five time Australian champion of the 1920s. Option C, the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, is the French Open women's trophy, named after the great French player of the 1920s. Option D, the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, is the Australian Open men's trophy. Since each Major has a separate name for its men's and its women's prize, the safest way to learn them is as four pairs rather than as eight separate names.

The correct answer is B, French Open. The Coupe des Mousquetaires, or Musketeers' Cup, is handed to the men's singles winner at Roland Garros. It is named after the four French players, Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and Rene Lacoste, who were nicknamed the Four Musketeers and who carried French tennis through the 1920s.

Option A, the US Open, gives its champions a trophy known simply as the US Open trophy and has no separate historical name of this kind. Option C, Wimbledon, awards the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy, a gilded silver cup, and the Venus Rosewater Dish to the women. Option D, the Australian Open, awards the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup to the men. The French names in the options are the giveaway: both French Open trophies carry French names, the Coupe des Mousquetaires and the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.

The correct answer is C, Mahesh Bhupathi. He won the mixed doubles title at the 1997 French Open partnering Rika Hiraki of Japan, and that was the first Grand Slam title of any kind won by an Indian. Two years later, with Leander Paes, he won the men's doubles at both the French Open and Wimbledon in 1999.

Option A, Leander Paes, went on to win many more Major titles than Bhupathi in men's and mixed doubles and is the better known name, which is exactly why the question is set; his first Major came after Bhupathi's. Option B, Vijay Amritraj, reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in the 1970s and was a Davis Cup mainstay, but never won a Major. Option D, Ramanathan Krishnan, reached the Wimbledon singles semi-final in 1960 and 1961, the best singles run by an Indian at a Major, but again without a title. No Indian has yet won a Grand Slam singles title.