Australian Open tennis tournament (Australian Open)
Results. Tennis. Australian Open 2020Australian Open is the Australian Open Tennis Championship, a tennis tournament among professionals, held in late January and early February in Melbourne, where the strongest athletes in the world, who have passed the most difficult selection and qualification according to the international top rankings of the ATP and WTA, compete. Australian Open Tennis Championships is one of the most famous and prestigious tennis championships in the world and one of 4 tournaments Grand Slam(Grand Slam tournaments). The prize fund of this ten-day competition overseas, where the best tennis players on the planet demonstrate their skills, is currently about $ 33.5 million.
The history of the Australian Championships dates back to the first decade of the XX century - it is one of the most significant tennis competitions not only for 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 hard surfaces in the southernmost millionaire city in the world and open the season of the Grand Slam tournaments within the framework of the calendar year. Russian athletes have won this major tennis event more than once. First victory at the Ausralian championship in the men's singles among Russians belongs to Andrey Olkhovsky (1994). In 2005, this achievement was repeated by Marat Safin. Maria Sharapova for the first time among Russians achieved such success in the women's singles at the Australia Open in 2008. V doubles and mixed doubles Russian athletes achieved even greater heights and repeatedly brought home awards of the highest dignity. The first of Russian women in 1999, Anna Kournikova did it, together with Martina Hingis they won twice at the Australian OPEN, the second time in 2002. Two years later, Elena Bovina with Nenad Zimonich and a year later Svetlana Kuznetsova, together with Alicia Molik, won the Australian open tournament ... In 2007 Elena Likhovtseva won the championship together 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.
This section contains the most recent reliable information, complete table with online results championship Australian Open 2020 from Melbourne among both men and women. On this page of our sports portal, the calendar of the Australian championship is presented, which reflects the results of all meetings tournament grid big tennis in singles according to ATP (men) and WTA (women). The cup scheme, the rating of the best athletes and a detailed calendar of all matches, and if you go to the global section, you can find the results and the schedule of competitions of other major events in this sport, which we have yet to see in the current season. In our sports section online results, score and results of absolutely all matches tennis tournament"Australia Open", with the date and time of the past and starting games. For the convenience of readers, the information is presented in the tabular data, where we highlighted the athletes and teams of the Russian national team in a bright color. Additionally, in the sections "Tennis News", "Tennis Blogs", "TV Broadcasts", "Video" you can find all the news, analytics, expert opinions, videos, broadcast schedule, sports reviews and the results of all the games of the Australian Open Tennis Championships. as well as all other significant events of this tennis season. We discuss the results of the Australian Open, read sports news, summarize the results, try to predict who will reach the semifinals 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!
Obviously, the likelihood of victory for anyone else is extremely small. Probably, the fate of the trophy will once again go to one of the great trinity. However, other athletes periodically make it to the final match, albeit rarely, but periodically. In 2008, the Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the main fight, and in the last Australian Open draw was played by Marin Cilic. For these purposes, BC "1xBet" offers to bet on a tennis player who will just make it to the final meeting. The quotes can be found below:
The finalist of the last draw was the Croatian athlete Marin Cilic, who was able to outplay Rafael Nadal during the tournament. Why not repeat last year's success this time? Juan Martin Del Potro, who is an improved version of Cilic in terms of the manner of play, cannot be discarded. For several years in a row, the Argentinian could not reach his level due to constant injuries, but last season Del Potro already resembled himself, so there is every chance of seeing a kind giant in final match.
The younger generation of athletes attracts attention. Alexander Zverev has been walking around and around high results for several years, but still his the best result the Grand Slam tournaments are the French quarterfinals. 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 alternately outplayed four representatives of the top ten of the world rankings: Dominic Tim, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson. Only Rafael Nadal in the final fight was able to stop the irrepressible Greek.
The young Croat Borna Coric also has every chance to shoot, who over the past season was able to make a qualitative leap forward. Few people manage to beat the great Roger Federer twice in a row, and 21-year-old Coric was able, first beating the Swiss in Halle, and then leaving no chance at all in Shanghai, defeating the titled Federer in 74 minutes. Coric is great on hard, so you should expect from him good results.
Particular attention should be paid to Nick Kirgios, who is only 23 years old, but one gets the feeling that he has been on tour for a long time. Having flashed brightly during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Nick began to be more and more remembered for his unstable mood, character problems and other things that clearly interfere with his play. Nevertheless, Kirgios is incredibly talented, therefore, with the proper mood for the tournament, he is able to give a good result. In addition, he was born in Australia, so the support of the local tribunes is provided for him.
Favorites of the Australian Open in Women's Singles
In the women's part of the tournament, as expected, the intrigue is much more serious than in the men. There is Serena Williams, who is a seven-time Australian Open champion, Victoria Azarenko, who managed to take the Australian Helmet in 2012 and 2013, and there is no other active tennis player who could take the Australian Open more than once. The most interesting thing is that from among the active athletes, only three tennis players more often than once reached the final of the tournament - Serena Williams (seven wins + the final in 2016), Venus Williams (2003 and 2017) and Maria Sharapova (victory in 2008 + the finals in 2007 and 20015). Based on this, there are a huge number of options for the finalists of the next drawing of the Australian Open. BC "1xBet" offers the following quotes for the athletes to reach the finals:
- Serena Williams - 4,96 ;
- Angelique Kerber - 7,9 ;
- Naomi Osaka - 9,9 ;
- Arina Sobolenko - 10,5 ;
- Petra Kvitova - 14,5 ;
- Elina Svitolina - 14,5 ;
- Garbinier Mugurus - 15,0 ;
- Karolina Plishkova - 15,0 ;
- Ashley 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 as candidates for the final match. There are four of them: Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. The current Australian Open champion is Danish Wozniacki, who slowed down a little after Victoria in Australia, 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 reached the semifinals last season, where she lost to Simone Halep in the decisive game 9-7 in a dramatic match. The German tennis player did not survive this failure for long and after a few months she proved her highest level winning Wimbledon.
Gradually tries to return to tennis and Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open title in 2012 and 2013. For her, these victories are the only ones at Grand Slam tournaments, which speaks of her good adaptation to Australian conditions. If the representative of Belarus is able to get in shape for the new season, then her aggressive manner of play may 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 is last years is more successful, the brightest Russian victory on the courts of Melbourne Park was won by Marat Safin, who outplayed local athlete Lleyton Hewitt in the final match. Since then, the Russians have not been able to reach the main match of the tournament, and the last veteran was Mikhail Youzhny, who retired in 2018. Now all the hope of Russian tennis fans is pinning on the youth. Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev have the greatest chances to show a decent result. Karen's best result at the Australian Open is only reaching the second round, and Andrey's is the third. If at least one of the Russians manages to reach the fourth round, it will already be a success.
In the women's part of the tournament, Maria Sharapova, the champion of the Australian Open-2008 and the finalist of 2012 and 2015, attracts all attention. She is one of only three active tennis players to have made the Australian Slam finals on more than one occasion. 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 great shape. So this year, according to BK
"(Eng. The Australasian Championships). It was attended by 17 athletes, and the final match was attended by 5 thousand spectators. In 1927 the tournament was renamed the Australian Championships. In 1969, it became open to professionals and got its current name.
Since 1905, the championship has been 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 out).
In 1972 it was decided 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 Kuyong club became small for the significantly grown tournament. By the start of the 1988 championship, the construction of the new Melbourne Park tennis complex (formerly Flinders Park, Flinders Park) was completed, where the tournament was moved that year. The move was a significant success - match attendance increased immediately and the 1988 tournament was attended by 90% more viewers (266,436) than the previous year in Cuyong (140,000).
In addition to problems with the stadium in Cuyong (where, among other things, there was a slope of the soil, which caused players on one side of the main court to literally climb up the hill when entering the net), the popularity of the Australian Open in the late 1970s and early 1980s 2000s was negatively influenced by the professionalization of tennis. The leading players at that time were already earning such large sums that they could even afford to miss the Grand Slam tournament because a trip to it meant skipping 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 took part 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 in any other Grand Slam tournament: in the women's singles in 1978, Chris O "Neal won, and in 1979 Barbara Jordan, in the men's singles in 1980 Brian Teecher took the lead with plans for a two-week super tournament in Florida threatening to push the Melbourne competition out of the Grand Slam list. the decision to postpone the time for 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 was continued to be held in subsequent years. Since 1987, the tournament was again moved to January, so in 1986 the championship was not carried out.
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. Competitions are held at the Melbourne Park Stadium in Melbourne. For the first time tournament Australian Open was held in 1905 under the name "Championship of Australasia". In 1927 the tournament was renamed the "Australian Championship", in 1969 it became open to professionals from different countries.
The Australian Open Championship takes place on hard courts. Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena. Today the prize pool for the WTA is $ 12,122,762. The most titled tennis players in the Australia Open are Australia's Nancy Wynn Bolton (1926-1951) - 20 wins. Thelma Long (1936-1958) - 18 wins. These victories fell on those stages of the competition when only Australian tennis players took part in them. A notable achievement was marked by Australian Margaret Smith, who won the tournament 7 times in a row.
The first foreign champion in the women's section of the Australia Open was Dorothy Round in 1935. The youngest champion was the Swiss Martina Hingins in 1997, when she was 16 years old and 3 months old. The oldest winner of the tournament was Australian Thelma Long at 35 years and 8 months in 1954.
The first tournament, called the Australasian Championships, took place in November 1905. It was organized by the Melbourne Cricket Club. The 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 Australian-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 Australian Margaret Molesworth. From this 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 the mixed category finals were not held (due to lack of time) and the finalists of the award were divided equally.
In 1923, at the Annual General Conference of the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), along with Wimbledon, the French and US Championships since 1924, the Australasian Championships were included in the main tournaments (majors) of the ILTF ( author's note - The term Grand Slam tournaments appeared later. More details).
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Of all the majors, the Australian Championship is the youngest. «
Wimbledon »
traces its history since 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 American Fred Alexander in 1908. He won the championship title.
Even local players had trouble moving. In 1906 the championship was held in Christchurch (New Zealand) and out of 8 participants, only one was Australian and the rest were New Zealanders. In 1909, when the tournament was held in Perth, Western Australia, none of the states of Victoria and New South Wales crossed the distance of about 3000 km by train between the east and west coasts.
As such, many world class players have never visited Australia. Among them are the Docherty brothers, the Americans William Larned, Maurice McLaughlin, Beals Wright, Bill Johnston, Bill Tilden, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Pancho Gonzalez, Budge Patty, the French Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Suzanne Leningrad. For this reason, in the pre-war years, foreigners very rarely became Australian champions: Frenchman Jean Borotra (1928), Englishman Fred Perry (1934) and American Don Budge (1938).
From 1905 to 1971, the championship did not have a permanent place of registration, and it 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 have been sowing.
Since 1930, singles have been held among boys and girls (up to 19 years old), and doubles (except mixed) in this category since 1983. The first female winner was Australian Emily Hood, who won the senior doubles the same year and became the women's singles champion in 1939 ( author's note - I did not find information on young men).
In 1972, it was decided to hold the tournament in only one city - Melbourne. The venue is 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 promoted by the appearance of a galaxy of Australian players dominating the world tennis Olympus. These are: Frank Sedgeman (born 1927), Ken McGregor (born 1929), Neil Fraser (born 1933), Ken Rosewall (born 1934), Lew Howde (born 1934). ), Roy Emerson (born 1936), Ashley Cooper (born 1936), Rod Laver (born 1938), Fred Stoll (born 1938), Margaret Court (born 1942) , Leslie Turner (born 1942), Owen Davidson (born 1943), John Newcomb (born 1944), Tony Roch (born 1945) ( author's note - 50-60 years of the last century was called the "Golden Age" australian tennis and in this heyday two people played a huge role: Norman Brooks - President of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia (1926-1955) and Harry Knopman - an outstanding coach (1938-1977), who was called "the legend behind the legends").
With the beginning " Open era”, Since 1969 the tournament has become open to professionals and has received the name“ Australian Open ”. The first Soviet athlete, Estonian Toomas Leyus, flew to this championship, who reached the 3rd round in singles, and played in the doubles with Australian Mel Anderson in the quarterfinals. And the best achievements of the Soviet players are: the victory of the Belarusian Natalia Zvereva in the mixed category (with the American Jim Pugh) in 1990; the semi-finals of the Georgian Alexander Metreveli in 1972 and the Russian Natalia Chmyreva in 1975; the quarterfinals of Russian Olga Morozova in 1972 and 1975.
In 1971, taking into account the 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 when all sets, except for the decisive one, began to be held as a tie-break set, and the only year when the tournament was held in the spring - from March 7 to 14 ( author's note - At the request of the general sponsor, the tournament was included in the professional World Tennis Championships (WCT), consisting of 21 tournaments).
In 1972, Australian Ken Rosewall became the winner of the championship for the fourth time, after he took his first title at 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 beginning 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 top players, making enough money in tournaments in Europe and the United States, allowed themselves to miss it. So American Chris Evert at the peak of her career ignored him 6 times in a row, Czech Martina Navratilova 4 times, Czech Jan Kodesh never booked a ticket to a remote continent, Swede Bjorn Borg flew in (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 in any other major. For example, in 1976, when Australian Mark Edmondson became champion, his position in the rankings was only 212 ( author's note - Edmondson is the last Australian to win the Australian Open), and in 1980 the American Brian Teacher (Brian Teacher), who best performance besides this victory - the quarterfinals at Wimbledon-1982. Australia's Chris O "Neil (111), who previously had best achievement- reaching the 3rd round of Wimbledon-1974, and in 1979 - American Barbara Jordan, who after this victory was only able to break into the 3rd round of the US Open three times and once to the same stage of the Wimbledon tournament.
In addition, the Australian Open prize pool was (and is) the smallest of all the majors. At the 1969 Australian Open, the men's singles winner received $ 4,500 (AUD) and the women's singles $ 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 in next year most of the leading tennis players did not come, including the Australians living in the United States. 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" was especially rescued, for which the sponsorship cost $ 125,000.
The sale of TV rights has also become a significant source of funds to increase the prize pool. National television broadcasts began in 1973, and the first international broadcast (to the United States) 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 from 1982 the beginning 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" either, who preferred the exhibition tournament in Antwerp with a much larger prize pool - $ 700,000 and with 12 participants. The third in the ranking, Jimmy Connors, was also absent. And the champion title was confirmed by the American Joen Crick, who occupied the 12th line in the rating.
However, the holding of the championship at the very end of the season, when the players were accumulating considerable fatigue, again did not contribute to its popularity. Therefore, starting in 1987, the "Australian Open" began to be held in the second half of January: starting on the second or third Monday based on the calculation of its completion on the last Sunday in January ( author's note - For this reason, the "Australian Open-1986" is absent in the historical chronicle).
However, again, the timing is still not entirely comfortable, since this period is the hottest in Australia.
From the memoirs of the famous Ukrainian tennis player Andrei Medvedev: " In 1997, during my 4th round match with Michael Chang, the thermometer on the referee's tower showed 61 degrees! As a result, the forced consumption of a huge amount of fluid and the constant change of clothes. But not only. In the same fight, my soles were completely worn out on two brand new pairs of sneakers! They just couldn't stand the hot court. Michael, by the way, also had one pair worn out. Before meeting Chang, I played a five-set match with Michael Stich, who won 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 you had to literally force yourself to play, but you can handle everything. With the heat, with the wind, which very often, with its strong gusts, makes adjustments to the game, with rivals ... You just need to be ready for this. During the day for the game you prepare yourself a few towels with ice; in 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 evening coolness, 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 relatively easy to carry".
The constant overheating of the players and the heatstrokes that occur to them led to the fact that in 1998, the "Extreme Heat Policy" was introduced into the Australian Open regulations, which provides for the suspension of matches at a certain temperature and the closing of the sliding roofs over major 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 threshold for extreme temperatures has been set at 40 o C. However, it is not a prerequisite to temporarily suspend games, and the decision in such a situation is made by the tournament referee based on the condition of fulfilling the schedule of all matches 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 postpone the tournament until the second half of February, when the heat is noticeably decreasing? You will definitely have to rebuild the ATP calendars and WTA tours... But this is not the main argument. The fact is that the end of January and the beginning of February fall on school holidays in Australia, and fans traditionally come to the stands with their children ( children from 3 to 14 years old). To postpone the championship means to lose such a serious segment of the target audience ( author's note - For many years, the Australian Open has been holding the second place in attendance among the Grand Slam tournaments, second only to the US Open, and if you take it as a percentage of the country's population, it will be more than anywhere else It was. Tennis is considered a national sport in Australia).
Now let's get back to the chronology. In 1978, the following sensationally kicked out of the tournament bracket: 3rd seeded American Beth Norton (in the 2nd round); 4th seeded Australian Amanda Tobin (1st round); 5th seeded American Rene Blount (2nd round); 6th seeded Australian Cynthia Doerner (1st round). As a result, won the 112th racket of the world Australian Chris O "Neil ( author's note - In 1973 she won the junior Australian Open).
For the 2015 Australian Open, the Margaret Court Arena grandstand capacity was increased to 7,500 and a retractable roof was erected, which closes in just 5 minutes.
Since 1988, the surface of the courts has also changed. Instead of the grassy one, the new courts put the green "Rebound Ace" hard (used until 2008), and since 2008 - the blue "Plexicushion" hard, 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 different hard surfaces - Roger Federer and Serena Williams).
With the relocation of the championship to Flinders Park, the attendance of his matches increased significantly, with 90% more spectators in 1988 (266,436) than in the previous year in Cuyong (140,000) ( author's note - In Cuyote since 1988. an exhibition tournament began to be held. More details).
Two more demonstration courts with a capacity of 3,000 and 800 seats were built for the Australian Open 1996.
The second largest arena "" (Hisense Arena), with three tiers of stands, capable of accommodating 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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For official matches championship, 19 courts are involved, the rest are used as training ( for participants - free). The Hawk-Eye electronic system is installed on three arenas and four demonstration courts.
In 1998, 21-year-old Frenchman Nicolas Escudé set a record in professional Open Era tournaments: he made three comebacks in which Magnus Larsson of Sweden 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). In the semifinals, he was stopped by Chilean Marcelo Rios ( author's note - For Nicolas Escudé, 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 Chrbaty, Fernando Vicente, Julien Buttier, Stefan Kubek (twice), Byron Black, Jose Acasuso, Ivan Lubicic, Carlos Moya, Jiri Novak, Nicolas Escudé, Rainer Schuttler, Nicholas Lapentre and Wayne Ferrey approx. author. – Before that, no major has had more than 10 such victories.).
This championship went down in history by the fact that already the 2nd round was held without the top three 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 finish his performance after the 1st lap. And the day before that, the Brazilian Gustavo Cuerten (2) lost. The third racket of the world American Andre Agassi (3) withdrew from the tournament due to injury.
In the second 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 semifinals. The Swede won his only Grand Slam title, beating 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, the Australian 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 coin in denomination of 5 dollars (aluminum-bronze, weight - 20 g, diameter - 38 , 74 mm, cost - $ 20).
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In 2007, in the mixed category, the scoring system for 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 for mixed doubles).
To commemorate the 100th men's championship in 2012, a commemorative medal, two Aussie $ 1 coins (aluminum-bronze, 9 g, 25 mm, $ 15) and a $ 2 coin (silver, selectively gilded, 20 g, 34 mm, $ 95) and $ 5 (aluminum-bronze-zinc, 20 g, 38.74 mm, $ 25).
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Serb Novak Djokovic became the hundredth champion, but it was not easy for him to win the title. In the semifinals, in 4 hours 50 minutes, he barely broke the resistance of the Scotsman 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) ( author's note - Thus, in two matches played in a row, “Nole” spent 10 hours 43 minutes on the court, however, with a break of 43 hours. About all the longest matches).
On January 12, 2013, the Eastern Plaza multipurpose complex was opened, which includes the National Tennis Center with 8 indoor hard courts, 5 outdoor hard courts, 8 outdoor clay courts, a fitness room and administrative knowledge of the tennis academy; as well as a seasonal shopping center and multi-storey car park.
In 2016 Tennis Australia (championship organizer) and Melbourne and Olympic parks"(Melbourne & Olympic Parks) (owner of" Melbourne Park ") have 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 government 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 official sponsor is a brewing company. In 2016, the organizers of the championship ended a 20-year contract with the well-known Dutch company Heineken Beer. And since 2017, it has been replaced by the national brewery Coopers Brewery for five years.
As for tickets, they are sold for each specific arena and for all demonstration courts (without specifying places; you can visit any of them), and also exist entry tickets allowing you to watch matches without stands, separately for the morning session and for the evening session.
PRIZES
To award the winner in singles in London, a cup was ordered, which they did not manage to produce by the beginning of the first championship in 1905. Australian branch of the British company "Slazenger Ltd." kindly offered a gilded silver goblet, an exact 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.
In 1928, the Melbourne newspaper The Sun instituted a new prize (silver vase), the Sun Challenge Cup, which could become the property of any player who won the championship five times or three years in a row. Such a reusable triumphant was the Australian Jack Crawford, who won in 1931-1933 ( author's note - In 1933. Crawford could have become the first Grand Slam winner, having won three majors, but lost the last - the US National Championship in the final to Fred Perry in five sets).
At the first prize of the "Schlesinger Cup" and after the establishment of the "Cube 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 Lawn Tennis Association of Australia and was also its winner in 1911. This is exactly the same goblet that was originally ordered in London in 1905, but made in 1906. It is a copy of a large marble Roman vase from the 2nd 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 the Australian tennis player Daphne Akhurst, who became the champion of the competition five times (1925-26 and 1928-30). It was also established in 1934.
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Men's singles prize |
Prize in women's singles |
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Men's Doubles Prize |
Prize in women's doubles |
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Mixed Doubles Prize |
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Youth Singles Prize |
Singles Prize for Girls |
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Youth Doubles Prize |
Women's Doubles Prize |
Only in the men's and youth doubles, the representatives of the post-Soviet countries have never become triumphant.
The winners are presented with reduced copies of the prizes, and the challenge cups themselves with the engraving of the champions are displayed in the premises of the Rod Laver Arena and are available for contemplation to visitors during excursions.
PRIZE FUND
The total prize pool is growing annually and in 2019 grew 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 has been the same since 2001 ( On gender equality in tennis prize money).
The winners will receive: AU $ 4.5 million singles; in doubles - AU $ 850 thousand; mixed - AU $ 180 thousand
The losers in the 1st round will not leave with empty pockets either. Their prize money, respectively, will be: AU $ 50 thousand; AU $ 14 thousand; AU $ 6K
The winners of the 1st round of the qualifying tournament will earn about AU $ 20 thousand; 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 of the modern tennis players love the Australian Open, primarily for the friendly atmosphere reigning there. Almost everyone lives in the same AccorHotel. At most other tournaments, players meet with their rivals only on the courts, and in Melbourne they see each other at breakfast every day, and during periods not related to tennis, they repeatedly intersect and, accordingly, communicate with one another. And given that the tournament is combined, of which there are not so many, romances are often tied here ...
When appears free time and participants can afford active rest, many try themselves as surfers or golfers. In the evenings, they usually visit a movie or a restaurant.
You can often see photos of tennis stars with exotic animals from the oldest Melbourne Zoo in Australia.
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Roger Federer, 2013 |
Sabina Lisicki, 2013 |
Samantha Stosur, 2013 |
Andy Murray, 2015 |
However, players do not visit the zoo because of their great interest in the fauna. This posing in front of the cameras is subject to certain obligations to sponsors and organizers.
Official site of the "Australian Open"