Australian Open
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- This article is about the Australian Open tennis tournament. For the Australian Open golf tournament, see Australian Open (golf).
| Grand Slams |
It is chronologically the first of the world's four major tournaments which together constitute the Grand Slam. It now occurs during the last two weeks of January but was formerly held in December.
Traditionally, accomplishing a slam is to win all four majors in a calendar year; recently tennis fans have adopted the shorthand of referring to each of the four parts of the Slam (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Opens) as a slam in itself. The Australian Rod Laver was the last man to complete a Grand Slam in men's singles in 1969. On the women's side, Steffi Graf was the last woman to win a Grand Slam in 1988, and she also won the Olympic Gold in Seoul in the same year, making it a Golden Slam.
The tournament was held for the first time in 1905. Like the other three Grand Slam events, it was contested by top-ranked amateur players and known as the Australian championships until the advent of open tennis in 1968. Originally based at the grass courts at Kooyong in the city of Melbourne's inner south-east, the tournament was in danger of fading into irrelevance before being revived in the 1980s with a shift to Melbourne Park, a new (Rebound Ace) hardcourt venue next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the southern fringe of the central business district.
Like all the Grand Slam tournaments, there are men's and women's singles competitions, men's, women's, and mixed doubles, as well as junior and master's competitions.
Two tournaments were held in 1977; the first in January, the second in December. The tournament moved back to January in 1987, so no championship was decided in 1986.
The two main courts, Rod Laver Arena, and Vodafone Arena are unusual in that they feature movable roofs which can be shut in case of rain or extreme heat. It is the only Grand Slam tournament that can feature indoor play. However, Wimbledon have plans to build a retractable roof for Centre Court in 2009.
Held in the middle of the Australian summer, the Australian Open is famous for its notoriously hot days. An extreme-heat policy is often put into play when temperatures (and humidity) reach dangerous levels.
The current major sponsor of the Australian Open is the Kia Motor Company.
Awards
Names of the winners are inscribed on the perpetual trophy Cups.
- The Women's Singles winner is presented with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.
- The Men's Singles winner is presented with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
History
The Australian Open is now managed by Tennis Australia, formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia (LTAA), and was first played at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. 2004 was the 92st staging of the event (99th year due to interruption of the War years).The tournament was first played in 1905 as The Australasian Championships, became the Australian Championships in 1927 and the Australian Open in 1969. Since 1905, the Championships have been staged at six different venues as follows: Melbourne (46 times), Sydney (17 times), Adelaide (14 times), Brisbane (eight times), Perth (three times), and New Zealand (twice) in 1906 and 1912.
In 1972, it was decided to stage the Tournament in the one city each year, as opposed to visiting various states across the nation, and the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club was selected due to Melbourne attracting the biggest patronage.
Melbourne Park (formerly Flinders Park) was constructed in time for the 1988 Open to meet the demands of the evolving tournament that had outgrown Kooyong's capacity. The move to Melbourne Park was an immediate success, with a 90 per cent increase in attendance in 1988 (266,436) on the previous year at Kooyong (140,000).
Recent Attendances
Records
Youngest Champions- Men's singles: Ken Rosewall (18 years, two months) in 1953.
- Women's singles: Martina Hingis (16 years, three months) in 1997.
- Men's doubles: Lew Hoad (18 years, two months) in 1953.
- Women's doubles: Mirjana Lucic (15 years, 10 months) in 1998.
- Mixed doubles: Venus Williams (17 years, seven months) in 1998.
- Men's singles: Ken Rosewall (37 years, two months) in 1972.
- Women's singles: Thelma Long (35 years, eight months) in 1954.
- Men's doubles: Norman Brookes (46 years, two months) in 1924.
- Women's doubles: Thelma Long (37 years, seven months) in 1956.
- Men: Roy Emerson (five) 1963-1967.
- Women: Margaret Smith (seven) 1960-1966.
- Men: Adrian Quist (10) 1935-1950.
- Women: Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver (seven) 1983-1989.
- Men: John Hawkes 1926; Jean Borotra 1928; Jack Crawford 1932.
- Women: Daphne Akhurst 1925 / 1928 / 1929; Nancye Wynne Bolton 1940/1947/1948; Thelma Long 1952; Margaret Smith 1963.
- Men: Jack Crawford, Vivian McGrath, Adrian Quist, John Bromwich, Dinny Pails, Frank Sedgman, Ken McGregor, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Stefan Edberg.
- Women: Joan Hartigan, Emily Westacott, Thelma Long, Beryl Penrose, Mary Carter-Reitano, Kerry Reid, Evonne Cawley, Chris O'Neil.
- Men: Horace Rice (1907), Norman Brookes (1911), John Hawkes (1926), Mervyn Rose (1954), Rod Laver (1960/1962/1969), Jimmy Connors (1974), Guillermo Vilas (Dec. 1978/1979), Roscoe Tanner (1977), Petr Korda (1998).
- Women: Martina Navratilova (1981/1983/1985), Monica Seles (1991/1992/1993/1996).
- Men: Ken Rosewall (20 years) 1953-1972.
- Women: Nancye Wynne Bolton (15 years) 1937-1951.
- Men: (6-0 6-0 6-0) Recorded by six men - James Anderson (first round 1925), Fred Perry (quarter final 1935), John Bromwich (first round 1949), Neale Fraser (first round 1953), Martin Mulligan (first round 1960), Richard Russell (first round 1966).
- Women: (6-0 6-0) Recorded by 13 women, including four in 1998 (Mary Pierce achieving the feat twice). Margaret Court achieved the feat four times and Wendy Turnbull three times.
- Men: Mark Edmondson (1976).
- Women: Chris O'Neil (1978).
- Neale Fraser: three-times Australian runner-up (Wimbledon and US champion).
- Fred Stolle: twice Australian runner-up (French and US champion).
- Mal Anderson: twice Australian runner-up (US champion).
- Tony Roche: Australian semi finalist (French champion).
- Lesley Turner Bowrey: twice Australian runner-up (French champion).
- Pat Cash: twice Australian runner-up (Wimbledon champion).
- Pat Rafter: Australian semi finalist (US champion)
- Lleyton Hewitt: Australian runner-up (Wimbledon and US champions).
- All competitions: Adrian Quist (Australia), 13.
- Singles: Roy Emerson (Australia), 6.
- Consecutive singles titles: Roy Emerson (Australia), 5 (1963-1967).
- Doubles: Adrian Quist (Australia), 10.
- All competitions: Margaret Smith Court (Australia), 21.
- Singles: Margaret Smith Court (Australia), 11.
- Consecutive singles titles: Margaret Smith Court (Australia), 7 (1960-1966).
- Doubles: Thelma Long (Australia), 12.
- Last Australian men's singles champion: Mark Edmondson (1976)
- Last Australian women's singles champion: Christine O'Neill (1978)
Interesting facts
- John Newcombe won three Wimbledon titles and one US Open crown before winning the Australian Open in Melbourne in 1973.
- Rhys Gemmell (1921 men's singles champion) is the only Australian-born champion not to have played Davis Cup for his country.
- The 1998 Australian Open saw two of the five senior titles won by wildcards - Martina Hingis and Mirjana Lucic in the women's doubles and Justin Gimelstob and Venus Williams in the mixed doubles.
- Martina Hingis was Women singles' champion from 1997 to 1999 and runner-up from 2000-2002. When she become the runner-up in singles again in 2002, she said she has also engraved her name on the cup for three times continuously; however, it's on the Runner-up Cup instead of the Champion Cup.
- Margaret Molesworth survived a match point at 5-6 in final set of semifinal against Sylvia Lance.
- Gerald Patterson saved four match points at 12-13 and one at 15-16 in fourth set before beating John Hawkes in final.
- Dinny Pails saved a match point at 5-6 in fifth set against John Bromwich in finals.
- Mary Carter survived a match point in defeating Thelma Long in final
- Rod Laver at 4-5 in fourth set saved a match point to defeat Neale Fraser in final.
- John Newcombe defeated Tony Roche in semifinal after Roche held two match points at 5-2 and one more at 8-7; Newcombe defeated Jimmy Connors in the final.
- Johan Kriek survived match point in semifinal against Paul McNamee at 3-5 in fifth set before going on to defeat Steve Denton in final.
- Stefan Edberg saved two match points in the fourth round against Wally Masur before defeating Mats Wilander in final.
- Monica Seles defeated Mary Joe Fernandez in semifinal after saving a match point at 5-6 30-40 in third set; Seles defeated Jana Novotna in the final.
- Marat Safin defeated Roger Federer in the semifinals in 2005 after saving a match point in a fourth set tiebreak. Safin defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the final.
- Twice Serena Williams took out the title when down match points in the semis. In 2003 she saved two match points on Kim Clijsters serve in the final set after being 5-2, and won 5 consecutive games to go on to the final where she defeated her sister to hold all 4 majors at once. In 2005 Williams came back after a disappointing 04 and fresh off injury sustained in her stomach at the WTA tour championships where she lost to Maria Sharapova in the finals, at the Semi Finals of the Australian Open they met again and Maria looked on her way to victory in the third and had three match points on her own serve, at 5/4, serena saved it with winners (one at 140 KM's) and went on to claim the titles against Lindsay Davenport in a 3 set final.
- Number of games: 93 games: In 1970 Dennis Ralston d. John Newcombe in QF 19-17 20-18 4-6 6-3 in a match lasting 281 minutes.
- Duration: 311 minutes: Boris Becker d. Omar Camporese in 3R 7-6 7-6 0-6 4-6 23-21 in 1991.
- Duration: 329 minutes: In 1990 Pieter Aldrich / Danie Visser d. Scott Davis / Robert Van't Hof 6-4 4-6 7-6 4-6 23-21, the deciding set lasting 173 minutes.
- Tony Wilding, in winning the 1909 title in Perth won 73 games and conceded only 11 in recording four straight sets victories.
- Men: Tony Wilding (1909), Rodney Heath (1910), Pat O'Hara Wood (1923), Donald Budge (1938), John Bromwich (1939), Roy Emerson (1964), Ken Rosewall (1971).
- Women: Margaret Molesworth (1922), Daphne Akhurst (1926, 1928), Coral Buttsworth (1932), Joan Hartigan (1934, 1936), Dorothy Bundy (1938), Emily Westacott (1939), Nancye Bolton (1946, 1947, 1948, 1951), Maureen Connolly (153), Thelma Long (1954), Shirley Fry (1957), Angela Mortimer (1958), Mary Carter-Reitano (1959), Margaret Court (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1973), Nancy Richey (1967), Billie Jean King (1968), Virginia Wade (1972), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1975, 1976, Dec. 1977), Chris O'Neil (1978), Steffi Graf (1988, 1989, 1994), Martina Hingis (1997), Lindsay Davenport (2000).
- Men: James Anderson 1925.
- Women: Margaret Molesworth 1923.
- Men: Fred Alexander 1908 (Sydney).
- Women: Dorothy Round 1935 (Melbourne).
- Australian Open - Melbourne Park, MELBOURNE.
- French Open - Stade Roland Garros, PARIS.
- All England Championships - Wimbledon, LONDON.
- US Open - Flushing Meadows, NEW YORK.
- Men: Roger Federer
- Women: Amélie Mauresmo
Champions
- Australian Open champions (Men's Singles)
- Australian Open champions (Women's Singles)
- List of Australian Open champions
- Australian Open champions (Men's Doubles)
- Australian Open champions (Women's Doubles)
- Australian Open champions (Mixed Doubles)
External links
| Australian Open Tournaments |
| 1968 | 1969 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 (Jan) | 1977 (Dec) | 1978 | 1979 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
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