The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Since 1905, the tournament has been staged in five Australian cities: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and two New Zealand cities: Christchurch and Hastings. The tournament is the highest attended Grand Slam event, with more than 812,000 people attending the 2020 tournament. It was also the first Grand Slam tournament to feature indoor play during wet weather or extreme heat.
About Australian Open in brief
The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. First held in 1905 as the Australasian championships, the Australian Open has grown to become one of the biggest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere. It features men’s and women’s singles; men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles; junior’s championships; and wheelchair, legends, and exhibition events. The tournament is the highest attended Grand Slam event, with more than 812,000 people attending the 2020 tournament. It was also the first Grand Slam tournament to feature indoor play during wet weather or extreme heat with its three primary courts, Rod Laver Arena, John Cain Arena and the refurbished Margaret Court Arena equipped with retractable roofs. Since 1905, the tournament has been staged in five Australian cities: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and two New Zealand cities: Christchurch and Hastings. In 1972, it was decided to stage the tournament in Melbourne each year because it attracted the biggest patronage of any Australian city. The move to Melbourne Park was an immediate success, with a 90 percent increase in attendance in 1988 on the previous year at Kooyong. In the period of 1916-1918, no tournament was organized due to World War I. During World War II, theournament was not held in the period 1941-1945. In those years, the best two players– Australian Norman Brookes and New Zealander Anthony Wilding– almost did not play this tournament.
Brookes took part once and won in 1911, and Wilding entered and won the competition twice. In 1912, though three Wimbledon champion did not come back to his home country, though he reached the Challenge Round once and then twice. The first tennis players who came by boat to Australia were the US Davis Cup players in November 1946. When the tournament was held in Perth, no one from Victoria or New South Wales crossed by train, a distance of about 3,000 kilometres between the East and West coasts. In Christchurch in 1906, of a small field of 10 players, only two Australians attended and the tournamentwas won by a New Zealanders. In Sydney, the first tournament was organised in 1880 in Melbourne and called the Championship of the Colony of Victoria. In Brisbane, the Championships were the first being organised in 1908 in Brisbane and won by Bill Johnston, Bill Johnston and Bill Tilden. In Adelaide, the Championship was the first organised in 1910 in Brisbane. In Perth, the championships were the second being held in 1912 in Brisbane, and it was won by Bobby Riggs, Bobby Cochet, Jack Kramer, Ted Pancho Gonzales, Ted Schroeder, Bobby Rancho Gonzalez, Patty Pales, and Patty Budge, while Ellsworth Vines, Jaroslav Drobný, and Jaroslav Výbnough came just once.
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This page is based on the article Australian Open published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 04, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
