About the Australian Open 2012
Each January, Melbourne hosts tennis’ Australian Open, where the world’s best tennis players take centre stage at Melbourne Park for the first Grand Slam of the year (and one of the world’s four Grand Slam championships).
The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was contested on grass until 1987. Since 1988, the tournament has been held on hard courts at Melbourne Park.
Like all other Grand Slam tournaments, there are men’s and women’s singles competitions; men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles; and junior’s and master’s competitions.
The two main courts used in the tournament are Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena and feature retractable roofs, which can be shut in case of rain or extreme heat. Along with Wimbledon, the Australian Open is the only Slam with indoor play.
Held in the middle of the Australian summer, the Australian Open is famous for extremely hot days. An extreme-heat policy is put into play when temperatures (and humidity) reach dangerous levels.
The Australian Open typically has very high attendance, with the 2009 Australian Open achieving the highest ever single-day day/night attendance record for any Grand Slam tournament of 66,018. The event is worth around £38 million ($A68 million) to the Australian economy.
In 2008, the Rebound Ace surface, which had been in place for the past 20 years at Melbourne Park, was replaced by a cushioned, medium-paced, acrylic surface known as Plexicushion Prestige. The main benefits of the new surface are better consistency and less retention of heat (because of a thinner top layer). This change was accompanied by changes in the surfaces of all lead-up tournaments to the Australian Open. The change was controversial because of the new surface’s similarity to DecoTurf, the surface used by the US Open.
The singles winners in 2010 were Roger Federer and Serena Williams. In men’s doubles, the winners were Bob and Mike Bryan, and in women’s doubles, the winners were Serena and Venus Williams – the second time in history that both doubles titles were won by siblings, and for the second consecutive year at the Australian Open. In mixed doubles, the winners were Cara Black and Leander Paes.
Location
Melbourne Park
Batman Ave
Melbourne VIC 3000
