Australian Open (Grand Slam)

Sports Name: Tennis

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Updated On : 06 May, 2019

Full Name
Australian Open (Grand Slam)

Type
international

Location
Australia

Disabled
No

Conducted
Annually

Gender
Both

Trivia

Australian Open is the first tournament of the Grand Slam series in a year which is held in Melbourne during the first fortnight of January.

The Australian Open is amongst the four Grand Slam tournaments that are held each year by the ILTF (International Lawn Tennis Federation). The term "open" is being used from the year 1968. Professional players were not allowed to participate in the Grand Slam tournaments till 1968. From 1969, both the amateur and professional players started playing in these tournaments. The first tournament in Australia was held in 1905 in a cricket ground and was won by Rodney Heath. Unlike other Grand Slam Championship, the Australian Open is the only one where the tournament was held in the neighboring New Zealand on two occasions; in 1906 and 1912. After being held in different cities of Australia, the tournament has a permanent venue as in Melbourne. The tournament is played at present at Melbourne Park. The Park has three courts that have a system by which the roof of the courts can be covered if it becomes necessary to avoid the rain. Due to this system, the tournaments were never held for extended hours or had to be rescheduled.

Competition Format

The tournament is held in different categories: Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles. There are also other competitions such as Junior, Legends, and Wheelchair.
A total of 128 players play in a knockout format. After four rounds, 8 players move to Quarterfinals. From these 8, 4 move to Semifinal and in the next round, 2 moves to the Finals.
Up to the year 1987, the matches were played on grass courts. But since 1988, grass courts are not being used. Instead of this, hard court surfaces with different materials are used. Mats Wilander is the only player who has won the tournament on different surfaces. He won the tournament in 1983 when it was played on grass and again in 1988 on hard court.