The Australian Open Tennis Tournament was first played in 1905 at Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground in Melbourne. The annual event is now the first leg of the four tennis Grand Slam tournaments and offers the exciting unveiling of the hard hitting drama that continues to draw huge crowds and spirited competitors.
In the finals of the 2008 Australian Open, 20 year old Serbian favorite Novak Djokovic defeated the unseeded French player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whose inspired play captured the imagination of the tennis world. 99 of the world’s 100 top ranked players participated in the 2008 field and composed the most internationally diverse and talented field in the tournament’s illustrious 103 year history. The 2008 tournament set attendance records as 584,476 fans from all around the globe gathered to watch the fierce competition. The tournament set a single day attendance record for Grand Slam events drawing 62,885 fans in one day.

The Australian Open tournament trophy is named for the famed Australian champion Norman Brookes, who won the event in 1911. The original tournament was played on grass and began a tradition that survived until 1988. The inaugural tournament was organized and overseen by the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia. Over time, this organization was reorganized. The governing body of the current tournament is now Tennis Australia, which group permanently relocated the event to Melbourne Park where the two main courts are called the Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena and feature retractable roofs to shield players from January’s intense Australian Summer heat.

In 1988, Tennis Australia replaced the grass surface with the Rebound Ace, an asphalt and sand hard court surface. The 2008 event was marked by Tennis Australia’s decision to change the surface to an advanced acrylic surface called Plexicushion, which was designed with a thin, top level surface which retained less heat and provided more consistent bounce.

Originally, the tournament was called the Australasian Championship. In 1927 the concept of the event was expanded and the tournament renamed the Australian Championship. In 1969, when the field was expanded to include professional competitors, the tournament was finally labeled the Australian Open. Before the tournament was permanently based in Melbourne in 1972, it had been hosted in eight different cities and two countries. The Australasian Championship was held in New Zealand in 1906 and 1912.

The 2008 Australian Open total purse was $20 million (AUD). The winners of the men’s championship and women’s championship each earned $1.2 million (AUD). The evolution of the Australian Open parallels the transformation of the game itself. In addition to garnering large international support, the Australian Open has been at the technological center of the sport. As the first Grand Slam event to implement the automated Hawk-eye line calling program to assist players, referees and umpires. After some refinement, the Hawk-eye has become the undisputed line calling authority. Tennis Australia has continued their concentrated effort to upgrade the tournament technology, facilities and accommodations.

Gone are the days when the best players from Australian and New Zealand battled for the championship. The 1906 field featured only 10 competitors. In the year 2007, tournament fans devoured 164,000 ice cream cones and ate 37,305 sausages. Competition was overseen by 361 judges and 45,000 Wilson tennis balls were put into play. The courts were serviced by 300 ballboys and ballgirls. Undoubtedly, these figures would stagger the original organizers.

The Melbourne Center itself now boasts four show courts and 19 additional outdoor courts and four indoor practice courts. Tennis Australia has arrived! And, the tennis world has responded.

Throughout the tournament’s history, Australians have dominated the championship. The inaugural 1905 tournament was won by Australian Rodney Heath. His victory was followed with a win by highly regarded Tony Wilding from New Zealand. Fred Alexander was the first American to win in 1908 while the first Brit to prevail was James Parke in 1912. As travel became easier, more and more Europeans, Americans and Asians tested their wares in Australia. With the likes of James Anderson (1922, 1924, 1925), Jack Crawford ( 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935), and famed player and sportsmen Ken Rosewall, who holds the distinction of being both the youngest (18 in 1953) and oldest player (37 in 1972) to ever win the championship, Australia’s dominance continued through the 1960’s. During Australia’s golden years of tennis in the 1960’s, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson won 9 of the ten tournaments while another Aussie, Bill Bowrey won the 1968 event.

With Arthur Ashe’s triumph in 1970, the international character of the tournament exploded. Since American Roscoe Tanner’s victory in 1977, no Australian has won the championship. When Novak Djokovic won the 2008 tourney, he halted Roger Federer’s two year win streak. While Federer has won three times, the most dominant modern day player was Andre Agassi who won 4 championships in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003.

As effective as Agassi was, Australian native Roy Emerson has won the championship 6 times, all in the 1960’s. Those popular wins set a record that most likely will never be overturned. Emerson combined his six Australian titles with six other Grand Slam events to be the first player to ever accumulate 12 Grand Slam titles.

While the Australian Open has a storied past, the future looks even brighter. For the 2009 championship, the only outcome that remains certain is that the greatest tennis players in the world will once again thrill their loyal fans in the world down under.