" (eng. The Australasian Championships). 17 athletes took part in it, and 5 thousand spectators attended the final match. In 1927, the tournament was renamed the "Australian Championship" (Australian Championships). In 1969, it became open to professionals and received its current name.
Beginning in 1905, the championship was held in six different locations:
- Melbourne (54 times)
- Sydney (17 times)
- Adelaide (14 times)
- Brisbane (7 times)
- Perth (3 times)
- New Zealand (2 times, in and).
In 1972, the decision was made to hold the tournament in the same city every year. The venue was the grass courts of the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, a suburb of Melbourne. Over time, the Quyong Club became too small for a much larger tournament. By the beginning of the championship in 1988, the construction of a new tennis complex Melbourne Park (Melbourne Park, former Flinders Park, Flinders Park), where the tournament was moved that year. The move was a significant success - match attendance immediately increased and the 1988 tournament saw 90% more spectators (266,436) than the previous year's Quyong (140,000).
In addition to problems with Cuyong Stadium (where, among other things, there was a slope that caused players on one side of the main court to literally walk uphill when they reached the net), the popularity of the Australian Open in the late 1970s and early 1980s professionalization of tennis negatively influenced. Leading players at that time were already earning such large sums that they could even afford to miss the Grand Slam tournament due to the fact that a trip to it meant missing the Christmas and New Year holidays. Chris Evert missed this tournament six times in a row at the peak of her career, Martina Navratilova four times; Bjorn Borg never competed in the Australian Open after 1974, and Jimmy Connors after 1975. As a result, the winners of the Australian Open were players who could not claim victory at any other Grand Slam tournament: in the women's singles Chris O'Neil won in 1978, and in 1979 Barbara Jordan, Brian Techer excelled in men's singles in 1980. In connection with plans to organize a two-week super tournament in Florida, there was a threat that he could oust the Melbourne competition from the list of tournaments of the Big helmet, so to make it easier to attract elite players to Open Championship Australia, after the tournament in January 1977, it was decided to move the time to the end of November and the beginning of December. Therefore, in 1977 the championship was held for the second time - in December. This month it continued to be arranged in subsequent years. Starting in 1987, the tournament was again postponed to January, so the championship was not held in 1986.
Obviously, the probability of anyone winning is still extremely small. Probably, the fate of the trophy will once again go to one of the great trinity. However, other athletes periodically reach the final match, although rarely. In 2008, the Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the main fight, and in the last draw Australian Open played by Marin Cilic. For these purposes, BC "1xBet" offers to bet on a tennis player who simply reaches the final meeting. Quotes can be found below:
The finalist of the last draw was the Croatian athlete Marin Cilic, who during the tournament was able to beat Rafael Nadal. Why not repeat last year's success this time? You can not discount Juan Martin Del Potro, who is an improved version of Cilic in terms of playing style. For several years in a row, the Argentinean could not reach his level due to constant injuries, but last season Del Potro already resembled his former self, so there is every chance to see a good giant in the final match.
The younger generation of athletes attracts attention. Alexander Zverev has been going around and around with high results for years, but so far his best result at the Grand Slam tournaments is the French quarter-final. But the 20-year-old Greek of Russian origin, Stefanos Tsitsipas, may well surprise from a positive point of view. Last season, he was remembered by everyone for his performance at the tournament in Toronto, where he outplayed four representatives of the world's top ten at once: Dominik Thiem, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson. Only Rafael Nadal was able to stop the unstoppable Greek in the final match.
The young Croatian Borna Coric, who over the past season was able to make a qualitative leap forward, also has every chance to shoot. Few manage to beat the great Roger Federer twice in a row, and 21-year-old Coric was able to, first beating the Swiss in Hull, and then left no chance at all in Shanghai, defeating the titled Federer in 74 minutes. Coric is great on hard, so you should expect good results from him.
Particular attention should be paid to Nick Kyrgios, who is still only 23 years old, but one gets the feeling that he has been on the tour for a long time. Flashing brightly during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Nick became more and more remembered for his unstable mood, character problems and other things that clearly prevent him from playing. Nevertheless, Kyrgios is incredibly talented, so with the proper attitude for the tournament, he is able to give a good result. In addition, he was born in Australia, so he is provided with the support of local stands.
Australian Open favorites in women's singles
In the women's part of the tournament, as expected, the intrigue is much more serious than that of men. There is Serena Williams, who is a seven-time Australian Open champion, there is Victoria Azarenka, who managed to take the Australian Slam in 2012 and 2013, and there is no other current tennis player who could take the Australian Open more than once. The most interesting thing is that only three tennis players from among active athletes reached the final of the tournament more than once - Serena Williams (seven wins + final in 2016), Venus Williams (2003 and 2017) and Maria Sharapova (victory in 2008 + finals in 2007 and 20015). Based on this, there are a huge number of options for the finalists of the next Australian Open. BC "1xBet" offers the following quotes for athletes to reach the final:
- Serena Williams - 4,96 ;
- Angelique Kerber - 7,9 ;
- Naomi Osaka - 9,9 ;
- Arina Sobolenko - 10,5 ;
- Petra Kvitova - 14,5 ;
- Elina Svitolina - 14,5 ;
- Garbine Muguruza - 15,0 ;
- Karolina Pliskova - 15,0 ;
- Ashleigh Barty - 15, ;
- Caroline Wozniacki - ;
- Simona Halep - 19, ;
- Madison Keys - 19,0 ;
- Sloane Stevens - 19, ;
- Kiki Bertens - 23,0 ;
- Maria Sharapova – 23, ;
- Daria Kasatkina – 25, ...
All champions of the tournament who continue their careers can be considered among the contenders for reaching the final match. There are four of them: Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. The reigning champion of the Australian Open is the Dane Wozniacki, who after Victoria in Australia slowed down a bit, but at the end of the season she was able to win the prestigious title in Beijing, just on hard.
Angelique Kerber won the Australian Open in 2016 and made it to the semi-finals last season, where she dramatic match lost to Simona Halep in the decisive game 9:7. German tennis player did not long survive this failure and after a few months proved her the highest level by winning Wimbledon.
Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open title in 2012 and 2013, is also gradually trying to return to tennis. For her, these victories are the only ones in the Grand Slam tournaments, which indicates her good adaptation to Australian conditions. If the representative of Belarus can get in shape for the new season, then her aggressive style of play can allow her to achieve good results at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
How are ours?
Despite the fact that women's tennis in Russia in recent years is more successful, the brightest Russian victory on the courts of Melbourne Park won Marat Safin, who beat local athlete Lleyton Hewitt in the final match. Since then, the Russians have not managed to reach the main match of the tournament, and the last veteran was Mikhail Youzhny, who retired in 2018. Now Russian tennis fans place all their hope on the youth. Karen Khachanov and Andrei Rublev have the greatest chances to show a decent result. Karen's best result at the Australian Open is only reaching the second round, while Andrei's is the third. If at least one of the Russians manages to reach the fourth round, this will already be a success.
In the women's part of the tournament, Maria Sharapova, the 2008 Australian Open champion and 2012 and 2015 finalist, attracts all the attention. She is one of only three active tennis players to reach the Australian Slam final more than once. Last season, the ex-first racket of the world was able to reach the third round, but then was defeated by Angelique Kerber, who gained excellent shape. So this year, according to BK
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Time spending: 15.1.2018 - 28.1.2018
Coating: hard
General prize fund: $33,000,000
Tournament description:
Australian Open or Australian Open 2018 is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The competition takes place at the Melbourne Park stadium in Melbourne. The Australian Open was first held in 1905 under the name "Australasian Championship". In 1927, the tournament was renamed the "Australian Championship", in 1969 it became open to professionals from various countries.
The Australian Open is played on hard courts. Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena. Today the prize pool of the WTA tournament is $12,122,762. The most titled Australian Open tennis players are Australian Nancy Wynn Bolton (1926-1951) - 20 wins. Thelma Long (1936-1958) - 18 victories. These victories came at those stages of the competition, when only Australian tennis players took part in them. A notable achievement was the Australian Margaret Smith, who won the tournament 7 times in a row.
The first foreign champion in the women's section of the Australian Open was Dorothy Round in 1935. The youngest champion was the Swiss Martina Hingins in 1997, she then turned 16 years and 3 months old. The oldest winner of the tournament was Australian Thelma Long at 35 years and 8 months old in 1954.
Australian Open Tennis Tournament (Australian Open)
Results. Tennis. Australian Open 2020Australian Open is the Australian Open Tennis Championship, a professional tennis tournament held in late January early February in Melbourne, where the world's strongest athletes compete, who have passed the most difficult selection and qualification according to the ATP and WTA international top ratings. Australian Open Tennis Championships - one of the most famous and prestigious championships tennis in the world and one of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments. The prize fund of these ten-day competitions across the ocean, where the world's best tennis players demonstrate their skills, today is about 33.5 million dollars.
The history of the Australian Championships dates back to the first decade of the 20th century - this is one of the most significant tennis competitions not only in the largest state in the Southern Hemisphere, but also in the world, which are now held at the end of the first month of winter on fast hard courts with a hard surface in the southernmost millionaire city in the world and open the Grand Slam tournament season within the calendar year. Russian athletes have repeatedly become the winners of this major event in tennis. The first victory in the Australian championship in men's singles among Russians belongs to Andrey Olkhovsky (1994). In 2005 this achievement was repeated by Marat Safin. Maria Sharapova in 2008 was the first Russian woman to achieve such success in women's singles at the Australia Open. AT doubles and mixed Russian athletes achieved even greater heights and repeatedly brought home awards of the highest dignity. Anna Kournikova was the first Russian woman to do this in 1999, together with Martina Hingis they won the Australian Open twice, the second time in 2002. Two years later, Elena Bovina with Nenad Zimonich and a year later Svetlana Kuznetsova, paired with Alicia Molik won the Australian Open. In 2007, the championship was won by Elena Likhovtseva paired with Daniel Nestor, and in 2012 she celebrated the victory Russian couple Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva. In 2016, Elena Vesnina and Bruno Soares again climbed to the top step of the podium.
In this section, the most recent reliable information, a complete table with online results championship Australian Open 2020 from Melbourne for both men and women. This page of our sports portal presents the calendar of the Australian championship, which reflects the results of all meetings tournament bracket tennis in singles according to the ATP version (men) and WTA (women). Cup scheme, ranking top athletes and a detailed calendar of all matches, and if you go to the global section, you can find the results and schedule of other major events in this sport that we have yet to see this season. In our sports section online results, scores and results of absolutely all matches of the Australian Open tennis tournament, with the date and time of past and starting games. For the convenience of readers, the information is presented in tabular data, where we highlighted the athletes and teams of the Russian national team in bright colors. Additionally, in the sections "Tennis News", "Tennis Blogs", "TV Broadcasts", "Video" you can find all the news, analytics, expert opinions, videos, broadcast schedules, sports reviews and results of all Australian Open Tennis Championships games, as well as all other significant events of this tennis season. We discuss the results of the Australian Open, read sports news, sum up the results, try to predict who will reach the semi-finals and finals of the tournament, comment on matches in our live chat, analyze games, predict the score, place bets and cheer with all our hearts for ours! Go Russia!
The first tournament called the Australasian Championships took place in November 1905. It was organized by the Melbourne Cricket Club in Melbourne. Matches were played in a 5-set format. 17 tennis players took part. The final match between Rodney Heath and Albert Curtis (4:6; 6:3; 6:4; 6:4) was watched by 5,000 spectators. Heath was awarded by his father, vice president of the Australo-Asia Lawn Tennis Association ( author's note – The Association included Australia and New Zealand. In 1922, New Zealand formed its own association).
The championship was not held during the two World Wars: 1916-1918 and 1941-1945.
In 1922, women joined the men. The first champion was the Australian Margaret Molesworth. Since that year, the championship began to be held in all five categories, and only in the period from 1970 to 1985 there was no mixed category in its program, and in 1965 and 1969 there were no mixed category finals (due to lack of time) and the finalists shared the awards equally.
In 1923, at the Annual General Conference of the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), along with Wimbledon, the championships of France and the USA since 1924, the Australasian championship was included in the main tournaments (majors) of the ILTF ( ed. - The term "Grand Slam" tournaments appeared later. More).
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Of all the majors, the Australian Championship is the "youngest". «
Wimbledon »
dates back to 1877, the US Championship - from 1887, the French Championship - from 1991. In 1927, after New Zealand gained independent membership in the ILTF in 1923, the tournament was called the "Australian Championship".
Due to the geographical location of the "Green Continent", in the first half of the 20th century, the vast majority of foreign players did not take part in the championship. In the 1920s, a ship trip from Europe to Australia took 40-45 days. The first foreign participant was the American Fred Alexander in 1908. He won the championship title.
Even local players had problems with moving. In 1906, the championship was held in Christchurch (New Zealand) and out of 8 participants, only one was an Australian, and the rest were New Zealanders. In 1909, when the tournament was held in Perth (Western Australia), no one from the states of Victoria and New South Wales did not cross by train the distance of about 3000 km between the east and west coasts.
Thus, many world-class players have never visited Australia. Among them are the Docherty brothers, Americans William Larned, Maurice McLaughlin, Beals Wright, Bill Johnston, Bill Tilden, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Pancho Gonzalez, Budge Patty, Frenchmen Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Suzanne Lenglen and others. For this reason, in the pre-war years, foreigners very rarely became champions of Australia: the Frenchman Jean Borotra (1928), the Englishman Fred Perry (1934) and the American Don Budge (1938).
From 1905 to 1971, the championship did not have a permanent home and was held in: Sydney (17 times), Melbourne (16 times), Adelaide (14 times), Brisbane (7 times), Perth (3 times), New Zealand (2 times, in 1906 and 1912).
Since 1928, the leading players began to sow.
Since 1930, singles among boys and girls (under 19 years old) have been held, and doubles (except mixed) in this category since 1983. The first winner among girls was the Australian Emily Hood (Emily Hood), who in the same year won the adult doubles, and in 1939 became the champion among women in singles ( note of the author - I did not find information on young men).
In 1972, it was decided to hold the tournament in only one city - Melbourne. The venue was the grass courts of the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Cuyong (a suburb of Melbourne).
In the post-war years, with the advent of regular air traffic, the Australian Championship gained great popularity. The prestige of the tournament was also facilitated by the appearance of a galaxy of Australian players dominating the world tennis Olympus. They are: Frank Sedgman (born 1927), Ken McGregor (born 1929), Neil Fraser (born 1933), Ken Rosewall (born 1934), Lew Howd (born 1934). ), Roy Emerson (b. 1936), Ashley Cooper (b. 1936), Rod Laver (b. 1938), Fred Stoll (b. 1938), Margaret Court (b. 1942) , Leslie Turner (born 1942), Owen Davidson (born 1943), John Newcomb (born 1944), Tony Roch (born 1945) ( aut.- The 50-60s of the last century were called the "Golden Age" of Australian tennis and two people played a huge role in its heyday: Norman Brooks - president of the Australian Lawn Tennis Association (1926-1955) and Harry Knopman - an outstanding coach ( 1938-1977), who was called "the legend behind the legends").
With the beginning of the "Open era", the tournament since 1969 became open to professionals and was accordingly called the "Australian Open". The first Soviet athlete also flew to this championship - Estonian Toomas Leius, who reached the 3rd round in singles, and played in the quarterfinals with Australian Mel Anderson in doubles. And the best achievements of the Soviet players are: the victory of the Belarusian Natalia Zvereva in the mixed doubles (with the American Jim Pugh) in 1990; reaching the semi-finals of the Georgian Alexander Metreveli in 1972 and the Russian woman Natalia Chmyreva in 1975; quarter-finals of Russian Olga Morozova in 1972 and 1975.
In 1971, taking into account title sponsor its name was slightly changed: "Dunlop Australian Open". In 1984, the tournament was sponsored by the Swiss tobacco company Philip Morris, and the championship was sponsored by the Marlboro Australian Open. In 1994, for the same reason, the championship was renamed the Ford Australian Open.
1971 was the first year that all but the decisive sets began to be played as a tie-break set, and the only year that the tournament was held in the spring - from March 7 to March 14 ( ed.– At the request of the general sponsor, the tournament was included in the professional World Tennis Championship (WCT), consisting of 21 tournaments).
In 1972, Australian Ken Rosewall won the championship for the fourth time, after he had chosen his first title 19 years earlier (1953). Rosewall is both the youngest (18 years 79 days) and oldest (37 years 76 days) singles champion.
From the same year, the start of the championship was postponed to the last days of December and the athletes had to celebrate Christmas and New Year far from home. This circumstance led to the fact that many leading players who earn enough money from tournaments in Europe and the USA allowed themselves to miss it. So the American Chris Evert at the peak of her career ignored him 6 times in a row, the Czech Martina Navratilova - 4 times, the Czech Jan Kodes never ordered a ticket to a distant continent, the Swede Bjorn Borg flew (at 18) only once - in 1974, American Jimmy Connors twice - in 1974-1975. As a result, the winners of the Australian Open were players who could not claim victory at any other major. For example, in 1976, when the Australian Mark Edmondson became the champion, his position in the ranking was only 212 ( ed. - Edmondson is the last Australian to win the Australian Open), and in 1980 the American Brian Teacher excelled, who has the best performance, in addition to this victory, in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon 1982. In women in 1978, the Australian Chris O "Neill (111) won, before that she had the best achievement - reaching the 3rd round of Wimbledon 1974, and in 1979 - the American Barbara Jordan, who after this victory could only break through three times to the 3rd round of the US Open and once to the same stage of the Wimbledon tournament.
In addition, the prize pool of the Australian Open was (and is) the smallest of all majors. In the 1969 Australian Open, the winner of the men's singles was $4,500 (AUD) and the women's singles was $1,750 (AUD). While at the "US Open-1969" these prizes were at the rate of $ 15.068 (AUD) and $ 6.457 (AUD), respectively. Due to low financial incentives, most of the top tennis players, including Australians living in the US, did not come next year. The organizers had to work hard to attract new sponsors in order to significantly increase the prize fund in 1971. The British company "Dunlop Sport" especially helped out, which sponsorship cost $ 125,000.
The sale of broadcasting rights has also become a major source of funds to increase the prize pool. Television national broadcasts began in 1973, and the first international broadcast(in the USA) was hosted by the American sports channel ESPN.
In the end, the organizers took into account the wishes of the players regarding the timing, and since 1982 the start of the tournament was postponed to the end of November. However, the first and third rackets of the world, John McEnroe and Ivan Ledl, did not come to the Australian Open-1982, who preferred the exhibition tournament in Antwerp with a much larger prize fund - $ 700,000 and with 12 participants. Missing was third-ranked Jimmy Connors. And the championship title was confirmed by the American Joen Creek, who was ranked 12th in the ranking.
However, the holding of the championship at the very end of the season, when the players accumulated considerable fatigue, again did not contribute to its popularity. Therefore, starting from 1987, the Australian Open began to be held in the second half of January: starting on the second or third Monday, based on its completion on the last Sunday of January ( author's note - For this reason, "Australian Open-1986" is not in the historical chronicle).
True, again, the dates are still not entirely comfortable, since this period in Australia is the hottest.
From the memoirs of the famous Ukrainian tennis player Andrey Medvedev: " In 1997, during my 4th round match with Michael Chang, the thermometer on the referee's tower showed 61 degrees! As a result, forced consumption of a huge amount of liquid and a constant change of clothes. But not only. In the same fight, I completely wore out the soles of two brand new pairs of sneakers! They simply could not stand the hot court. By the way, Michael also lost one pair. Before the meeting with Chang, I played a five-set match with Michael Stich, who won in the decisive set with a score of 11:9. So for the fight I drank eight liters of water, and when I weighed myself, it turned out that I had lost three kilograms. I think these facts give a general idea of the degree of stress experienced by tennis players in Australia.
Sometimes I had to literally force myself to play, but everything can be handled. With the heat, with the wind, which very often makes adjustments to the game with its strong gusts, with rivals ... You just need to be ready for it. During the day for the game you prepare yourself a few towels with ice, at the evening session you can put a light jacket in your bag. In Melbourne, the climate is generally very changeable. The heat of the day can easily be replaced by the cool of the evening, and after sunset the temperature can drop to fourteen degrees.
The championship, in fact, begins new season, you are rested, full of energy, so small additional loads are transferred relatively easily".
The constant overheating of the players and the heat strokes that they experience have led to the fact that since 1998 the Australian Open regulations have introduced such a thing as an "extreme heat policy" (Extreme Heat Policy), which provides for the suspension of matches at a certain temperature and the closing of sliding roofs over main arenas. There were two such cases: January 20, 2003 (37 ° C) for 2 hours, January 25, 2009 (45 ° C) for 4 hours, and January 16, 2014 (43.3 ° C) for 4 hours. Since 2015, the extreme temperature threshold has been set at 40 ° C. However, it is not a prerequisite for the temporary suspension of games, and the decision in such a situation is made by the tournament referee based on the condition that the schedule of all matches is completed by the end of the tournament ( author's note - Until 2015. the temperature threshold was 35 ° C, and the decision at the discretion of the referee was introduced in 2008.).
Why not move the tournament to the second half of February, when the heat subsides noticeably? Of course, you will have to rebuild the calendars of the ATP and WTA tours. But this is not the main argument. The fact is that the end of January and the beginning of February are school holidays in Australia, and fans traditionally come to the stands with their children ( from 3 to 14 years old children's tickets are provided). Postponing the championship means losing such a serious segment of the target audience ( note by author - The Australian Open has for many years held the second place in attendance among Grand Slam tournaments, second only to the US Open, and if taken as a percentage of the country's population, then this will be more than anywhere else It was. Tennis is Australia's national sport.).
Now back to the chronology. In 1978, the following sensationally "departed" from the tournament grid: 3rd seeded American Beth Norton (in the 2nd round); 4th seeded Australian Amanda Tobin (1st round); 5th seeded American Renee Blount (in the 2nd round); 6th seeded Australian Cynthia Doerner (1st round lap). As a result, Australian Chris O'Neill won the 112th racket of the world ( ed.- In 1973, she won the junior "Australian Open").
For the Australian Open-2015, the capacity of the stands of the Margaret Court Arena was increased to 7,500 seats and a retractable roof was erected, which closes in just 5 minutes.
Since 1988, the surface of the courts has also changed. Instead of grass on the new courts, they put the green hard "Rebound Ace" (used until 2008), and since 2008 - the blue hard "Plexicushion", which is more heat resistant ( more about court surfaces) (author's note - Interesting fact: The only player to win the Australian Open on both grass (1983, 1984) and hard (1988) courts is Mats Wilander. And the winners on various hard surfaces are Roger Federer and Serena Williams).
With the move of the championship to Flinders Park, the attendance of its matches increased significantly, so in 1988 there were 90% more spectators (266.436) than in the previous year in Cuyong (140.000) ( author's note – In Cuyote since 1988. an exhibition tournament was held. More).
For the Australian Open-1996, two more demonstration courts were built with a capacity of 3,000 and 800 seats.
The second largest arena "" (Hisense Arena), which has three tiers of stands, can accommodate 9,500 spectators for tennis competitions, was opened in 2000 and also has a retractable roof that can close (open) in 10 minutes.
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19 courts are involved in official matches of the championship, the rest are used as training courts ( for participants - free of charge). Three arenas and 4 demonstration courts have an electronic Hawk-Eye system installed.
In 1998, 21-year-old Frenchman Nicolas Escude set a record for professional Open Era tournaments: he held three comebacks, in which the Swede Magnus Larsson was defeated (5:7; 4:6; 7:5; 6:1; 10:8) , American Richie Reneberg (1:6; 6:7(0); 6:2; 7:5; 6:4) and German Nicholas Kiefer (3:6; 4:6; 6:4; 6:1; 6 :2). He was stopped in the semi-finals by the Chilean Marcelo Rios ( author's note – For Nicolas Escude, participation in this championship was the most successful).
The record for comebacks among all the majors was set at the Australian Open-2002, which were made 14 times. 13 tennis players distinguished themselves: Dominik Hrbaty, Fernando Vicente, Julien Buttier, Stefan Kubek (twice), Byron Black, Jose Acasuso, Ivan Ljubicic, Carlos Moya, Jiri Novak, Nicolas Escude, Rainer Schuttler, Nicholas Lapentti and Wayne Ferreire ( author's note – Before that, no major had more than 10 such victories.).
This championship went down in history by the fact that already the 2nd round was held without the first three of the best tennis players in the world, which happened for the first time in the history of the majors. Australian Lleyton Hewitt (1) lost to Spaniard Alberto Martin (6:1; 1:6; 4:6; 6:7(4)). There has never been such a thing in the history of the Australian Open for the seed leader to complete his performance after the 1st round. And the day before, the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten (2) lost. The third racket of the world American Andre Agassi (3) withdrew from the tournament due to injury.
In the 2nd round, the Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov (4) and the Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean (5) lost. German Tomi Haas (7), Russian Marat Safin (9), Swede Thomas Johansson (16) and Czech Jiri Novak (26) reached the semi-finals. The Swede won his only Grand Slam title by defeating Safin in the final (3:6; 6:4; 6:4; 7:6(4)).
In 2005, the centenary of the championship was celebrated. For the anniversary, Australia Post issued a series of two stamps (size 37×26 mm) and an envelope (with the possibility of special cancellation), and the Royal Australian Mint issued a commemorative $ 5 coin (aluminum-bronze, weight - 20 g, diameter - 38 .74 mm, cost - $20).
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In 2007, in the mixed doubles, the scoring system in the decisive set was changed. Instead of a tie-break set, a super tie-break was played.
From the same year, wheelchair competitions began to be held in four categories (except mixed).
To commemorate the 100th championship for men in 2012, a commemorative medal was issued, two 1 Australian dollar coins (aluminum-bronze, 9 g, 25 mm, $15) and a 2 dollar coin each (silver, selectively gilded, 20 g, 34 mm, $95) and $5 (aluminium-bronze-zinc, 20 g, 38.74 mm, $25).
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Serb Novak Djokovic became the 100th champion, but it was not easy for him to get the title. In the semi-final, in 4 hours and 50 minutes, he barely broke the resistance of the Scot Andy Murray (6:3; 3:6; 6:7(4); 6:1; 7:5), and in the final his confrontation with the Spaniard Rafael Nadal continued 5 hours 53 minutes (5:7; 6:4; 6:2; 6:7(5); 7:5) ( approx.avt.– Thus, in two consecutive matches played, “Nole” spent 10 hours and 43 minutes on the court, however, with a break of 43 hours. About all the longest matches).
January 12, 2013 opened a multi-purpose complex "Eastern Plaza" (Eastern Plaza), which includes the "National Tennis Center" with 8 indoor hard courts, 5 outdoor hard courts, 8 outdoor clay courts, fitness room and administrative knowledge of the tennis academy, as well as a seasonal shopping center and a multi-storey car park.
In 2016, Tennis Australia (organizer of the championship) and Melbourne and olympic parks» (Melbourne & Olympic Parks) (owner of Melbourne Park) extended the contract for the lease of the tennis complex for the period of the Australian Open for another 20 years. Although Melbourne had a serious competitor - Sydney, the authorities of the state of Victoria promised to further develop the infrastructure of Melbourne Park and also build a new building for the Tennis Australia office.
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The Australian Open is the only major to have a brewing company as its official sponsor. In 2016, the organizers of the championship ended their 20-year contract with the well-known Dutch company Heineken Beer. And since 2017, it has been replaced by the national beer producer Coopers Brewery for five years.
As for tickets, they are sold for each specific arena and for all demonstrative courts (without specifying seats; you can visit any of them), and there are also entrance tickets that allow you to watch matches without stands, separately for the morning session and evening session.
PRIZES
To reward the winner in singles in London, a cup was ordered, which did not have time to produce by the beginning of the first championship in 1905. Australian branch of the British company "Slazenger Ltd." kindly offered a silver-gilt goblet, a replica of the goblet that had been awarded to the winners of the Wimbledon tournament since 1887. The "Slazenger Cup" was a challenge, and the winners received a copy of it.
In 1928 the Melbourne newspaper The Sun established new prize(silver vase) "Sun Challenge Cup", which could become the property of any player who won the championship five times or three years in a row. The Australian Jack Crawford, who won in 1931-1933 ( author's note - In 1933. Crawford could also become the first Grand Slam winner by winning three majors, but losing the last - the US National Championship in the final to Fred Perry in five sets).
On the first prize of the "Schlesinger Cup" and after the establishment of the "Cup of the Sun" until 1933, the names of the winners were engraved.
Since 1934, the prize has been a silver " Norman Brooks Challenge Cup” (Norman Brookes Challenge Cup), named after the Australian tennis player Norman Brookes, who made a significant contribution to the development of the championship as president of the Australian Lawn Tennis Association and was also its winner in 1911. This is the same cup originally commissioned from London in 1905 but made in 1906. It is a copy of a large marble Roman vase from the second century AD, fragments of which were found in 1770. The diameter of the bowl is 25.7 cm, and the maximum width including handles is 39 cm. The height is 28 cm, and the height of the stand is 15.5 cm.
The winner of the women's tournament is awarded " Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup» (Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup), named after Australian tennis player Daphne Akhurst, who became the champion of the competition five times (1925-26 and 1928-30). Also established in 1934.
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Men's Singles Prize |
Women's Singles Prize |
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Men's Doubles Prize |
Prize in women's doubles |
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Prize in mixed doubles |
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Men's Singles Prize |
Women's Singles Prize |
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Men's Doubles Prize |
Women's Doubles Prize |
Only in the men's and youth doubles never did the representatives of the post-Soviet countries become victors.
The winners are awarded small copies of the prizes, and the challenge cups themselves with the engraving of champions are on display in the premises of the Rod Laver Arena and are available for viewing by visitors during excursions.
PRIZE FUND
The total prize fund increases annually and in 2019 increased by 10% and amounted to 60.5 million Austrian dollars (US$ 42.85 million; for comparison in 2019: Roland Garros – US$ 48 million; Wimbledon "- US$ 45 million; "US Open" - US$ 53 million) For men's and women's tournaments it's been the same since 2001 On gender equality in tennis prize money).
Winners will receive: AU$4.5 million in singles; in steam rooms - AU $ 850 thousand; in mixed doubles - AU $ 180 thousand.
The losers in the 1st round will also not leave with empty pockets. Their prize money respectively will be: AU$ 50 thousand; AU$14 thousand; AU$6 thousand
The winners of the 1st round of the qualifying tournament will earn approximately AU$20k; 2nd - AU$ 25 thousand; 3rd (final) - AU $ 40 thousand (this is twice as much as in 2017).
A little about the pastime of athletes
Most modern tennis players love the Australian Open and, first of all, for the friendly atmosphere reigning there. Almost everyone lives in the same AccorHotel. In most other tournaments, players meet with their rivals only on the courts, and in Melbourne they see each other every day at breakfast, and during non-tennis periods, they repeatedly intersect and communicate with each other accordingly. And given that the tournament is combined, which are not so many, romances are often tied up here ...
When there is free time and participants can afford leisure, many try themselves as surfers or golfers. In the evenings, most often they visit a cinema or a restaurant.
You can often see photos of tennis stars with exotic animals from Melbourne Zoo, Australia's oldest zoo.
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Roger Federer, 2013 |
Sabina Lisicki, 2013 |
Samantha Stosur, 2013 |
Andy Murray, 2015 |
However, the players visit the zoo not because of the great interest in the fauna. Such posing in front of the cameras is provided for by certain obligations to sponsors and organizers.
Official website of the Australian Open