The Australian Open treats tennis fans to their first Grand Slam experience every year, with a two-week tennis festival lighting up the city of Melbourne in January. The competition has taken place in Melbourne Park for almost 30 years, and draws the best players from the ATP and WTA Tours with a large prize purse of more than A$80 million on offer.
The upcoming Australian Open is being played from Sunday, Jan 12th, – Sunday, Jan 26th, 2025.
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History of the Australian Open
Though the first event occurred in 1905, the Australian Open is the most recent addition to the tennis calendar. Having begun in the 19th century, the Wimbledon, US Open, and French Open were already established tennis events by then.
Still, the name ‘Australian Open’ did not originate until 1969, when the Open Era started. The Australasian Championships was the tournament moniker when tennis Australia planned the first one. The competition took place first at Melbourne’s The Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground. The action has shifted to another arena even while the Garden City still hosts the competition.
The Australian Open was staged in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, and even in the New Zealand cities of Christchurch and Hastings until it became a Melbourne mainstay in 1972.
It was not a particularly hot ticket for international tennis stars back then. Convincing elite players to travel to Australia was difficult given the great distance involved. Aussies and Kiwis competed most of the time. The world’s best didn’t start showing up routinely until 1982, and the event settled permanently at Melbourne Park in 1988.
Australian Open Venue and Attendance
The International Tennis Federation requested the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia to relocate the Australian Open to a larger venue. As the attendance numbers were increasing by the day, the organizers brought the Australian Open to Flinders Park in 1988. We know the facility as Melbourne Park today.
Right now, Melbourne Park has 39 courts. 33 of them are hard courts, and the remaining half a dozen are clay courts, but aren’t used for the Australian Open. Here are the courts used in the competition and their capacity:
- Rod Laver Arena – 14,820 capacity
- John Cain Arena – 10,300 capacity
- Margaret Court Arena – 7,500 capacity
- Kia Arena/Show Court Arena – 5,000 capacity
- Show Court Arena 2 – 3,000 capacity
- Show Court Arena 3 – 3,000 capacity
The Rod Laver Arena, John Cain Arena, and the Margaret Court Arena are the only three Melbourne Park courts which have retractable roofs. They can host matches regardless of the weather conditions outside, so the biggest matches of the competition take place in these courts.
The Australian Open 2024 has shattered attendance records, making history over both two-week and three-week periods. No less than 1,020,763 audiences attended the main draw, dwarfing the 2023 numbers of 839,192, which was also a record. In total, an incredible 1,110,656 fans enjoyed the three-week long tennis fest in 2024.
What is the Australian Open Prize Money?
One of the biggest prize pools in world tennis is offered by the Australian Open. For the 2024 edition of the event, a stunning 13% rise brought the overall money pot to AU$86.5 million (US$59.2 million). Although the prize pool numbers for the forthcoming 2025 event are yet unknown, once more there is expected to be a significant increase.
The Australian Open prize pool for 2024 is briefly broken down here:
- AU$3.15 million for men’s and women’s singles champions
- AU$730,000 for doubles champions (per team)
- AU$165,000 for mixed doubles champions (per team)
- AU$120,000 for making the round of 128
Ranking Points
As a Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open offers significant ranking points to competitors. Here is how the points will be distributed:
- Champion – 2000 points
- Runner up – 1300 points
- Semi-finalist – 800 points
- Quarter-finalist – 400 points
- Round of 16 – 200 points
- Third round – 100 points
- Second round – 50 points
- First round – 10 points
- Qualifying – 30 points
Past Australian Open Champions
Who has lifted the trophy in Melbourne over the past five years? Let’s find out:
Men’s Singles Australian Open Champions
- 2020 – Novak Djokovic
- 2021 – Novak Djokovic
- 2022 – Rafael Nadal
- 2023 – Novak Djokovic
- 2024 – Jannik Sinner
Women’s Singles Australian Open Champions
- 2020 – Sofia Kenin
- 2021 – Naomi Osaka
- 2022 – Ashleigh Barty
- 2023 – Aryna Sabalenka
- 2024 – Aryna Sabalenka
Men’s Doubles Australian Open Champions
- 2020 – Ram/Salisbury
- 2021 – Polasek/Dodig
- 2022 – Kyrgios/Kokkinakis
- 2023 – Hijikata/Kubler
- 2024 – Bopanna/Ebden
Women’s Australian Australian Open Champions
- 2020 – Babos/Mladenovic
- 2021 – Mertens/Sabalenka
- 2022 – Krejcikova/Siniakova
- 2023 – Krejcikova/Siniakova
- 2024 – Su-Wei/Mertens
Mixed Doubles Australian Open Champions
- 2020 – Krejcikova/Mektic
- 2021 – Krejcikova/Ram
- 2022 – Mladenovic/Dodig
- 2023 – Stefani/Matos
- 2024 – Su-Wei/Zielinski
Australian Open Records
- Only three unseeded singles participants have managed to win the Australian Open. First among them in 1976 was Mark Edmonson. Two years later, Chris O’Neil matched the success in the women’s competition. Serena Williams was the last unseeded winner we saw in Melbourne when she triumphantly returned to form in 2008 after tournament victory.
- In the Open Era, just four players have won the Australian Open singles trophy in their first attempt. Before Barbara Jordan (1979), Monica Seles (1991), and Andre Agassi (1995), Virginia Wade showed the road in 1972.
- To this day, Martina Hingis is the youngest Australian Open champion. Hingis won the 1997 competition being just sixteen years and 117 days old.
- Among male champions, Ken Rosewall is the youngest to conquer the Australian Open. His first taste of trophies in this competition, however, predated the Open Era. Rosewall won in 1953, barely eighteen years old.
- Remarkably, Rosewall holds the opposite record as well. He is the oldest player to have raised the Australian Open trophy. Rosewall beat Mal Anderson in the 1972 Australian Open men’s single final, 37 years old.
- Serena Williams won the Australian Open no less than a whopping seven times. Her final piece of Australian Open silverware came in 2017. It made her the most successful women player in the tournament. Also, she was 35 at that time. So, she is also the oldest women’s tennis player to win the Australian Open.
What is Opening Week at the Australian Open?
The ‘Opening Week’ is a fan-centric program that somewhat mirrors the US Open Fan Week.
Fans are given access to the first row seats at Rod Laver Arena during the Opening Week, so that they can see the stars finishing up their Australian Open prep. At the same time, they can enjoy the highly competitive qualifying rounds among rising players.
The Australian Open Opening Week was introduced in 2023. Fans can also enjoy charity matches and special celebrations as part of the week’s festivities.
Interesting Facts About the Australian Open
Let’s hit you with some entertaining Australian Open trivia before we bid farewell:
- Novak Djokovic couldn’t participate in the 2022 Australian Open. Why, you ask? The Australian government canceled his visa for not having COVID 19 vaccination. The authorities refused to exempt the Serbian superstar and deported him.
- Every year the competition uses 50,000 tennis balls on average. More than three hundred boys and girls offer to serve as ball kids each edition.
- Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s 2012 match ran five hours and fifty-three minutes.
