The Australian Open Tennis Championships is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments currently held in the Australian city of Melbourne on the courts of the local sports complex Melbourne Park. The main draws of the competition are traditionally held in a two-week period at the end of January - the beginning of February, revealing the winners in nine categories: in five for adults and four for senior juniors.

The tournament was first held in Melbourne in 1905 and was called The Australasian Championships. 17 athletes took part in it, and 5 thousand spectators attended the final match. In 1927, the tournament was renamed the Australian Championships. In 1969, it became open to professionals and received its current name.

Bemorepanda collected some funny memes about Australia Open 2022.

1.Aus Open

2.Sport Star

3.The party life

4.Stepped in what

Beginning in 1905, the championship was 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 1906 and 1912).

In 1972, the decision was made 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 Quyong Club became too small for a much larger tournament. By the beginning of the championship in 1988, the construction of a new tennis complex Melbourne Park (Melbourne Park, former Flinders Park, Flinders Park) was completed, where the tournament was moved that year. The move was a significant success - match attendance immediately increased and the 1988 tournament saw 90% more spectators (266,436) than the previous year's Quy Ong (140,000).

5.The good tennis

6.Nadal

7.Dreamworks

8.Little goat

In addition to problems with Cuyong Stadium (where, among other things, there was a slope that caused players on one side of the main court to literally walk uphill when they reached the net), the popularity of the Australian Open in the late 1970s and early 1980s professionalization of tennis negatively influenced. Leading players at that time were already earning such large sums that they could even afford to miss the Grand Slam tournament due to the fact that a trip to it meant missing 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 competed 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 at any other Grand Slam tournament: in the women's singles in 1978, Chris O'Neill won, and in 1979 Barbara Jordan, in the men's singles in 1980 Bryan Teacher excelled. With plans to organize a two-week super tournament in Florida, there was a threat that it could force the Melbourne competition out of the Grand Slam tournament list. 

Therefore, in order to make it easier to attract elite players to the Australian Open, after the tournament in January 1977, the decision was made to reschedule the event to late November and early December. Therefore, in 1977 the championship was held for the second time - in December. This month it continued to be arranged in subsequent years. Starting in 1987, the tournament was again postponed to January, so the championship was not held in 1986.

The Melbourne Park Tennis Complex consists of, among others, 3 center courts and 3 demonstration courts.

9.Linesmen

10.Kyrgios

11.One of us is ignoring

The main court of the tournament, the Rod Laver Arena, was named after the legendary Australian tennis player Rod Laver in 2000. The court was built in 1988 and can accommodate 15,000 spectators. More than 1.5 million viewers visit it annually. The court is equipped with a retractable roof, which allows you to play matches in the rain or extreme heat.

The second court of the tournament, Hisense Arena, was built in 2000. The arena is special in that it can be easily transformed for various events. In addition to tennis tournaments, cycling and basketball competitions, as well as various concerts, are held here. The capacity of the stands also varies depending on the configuration - 10,500 spectators for tennis and basketball matches, 10,500 or 8,900 for concerts (depending on the location of the stage), 4,500 spectators in velodrome mode. The arena is also equipped with a retractable roof.

The third center court, the Margaret Court Arena, is named after the most successful Australian tennis player in history, Margaret Court, who, among other victories, won the Grand Slam in 1970, won a total of 62 Grand Slam tournaments ( in singles and doubles championships), which is still a record for both men and women; and was the first racket of the world. The court was formerly known as Show Court One and was renamed on January 12, 2003.

All courts have Plexicushion hardcovers. In the early years after the transition from grass turf to artificial courts, Rebound Ace rubberized surface was used. In cool weather, it bounced right, was neither too fast nor too slow and provided good foot grip, but in hot weather the rubber would melt and the courts would become sticky, resulting in severe injuries to Gabriela Sabatini in the 1990 tournament alone. and Mark Woodford.

12.Matt

13.Yes

14.Who said this?

15.Meanwhile, Feder

16.Official review

17.Border control

18.Ballboys

19.Terminal 2

20.Triangle 

21.Honey mommy

22.Last minute entry

23.A new player

24.He lied on visa

25.Tennis strars

26.Get vaccinated

27.Antivaxxers

28.Profesional visa

29.Both can play tennis

30.Last had covid

31.Question

32.Get a doctor

33.Admit i faked

34.And then you win

35.Zebras

36.Who is open

37.Certain things in life

38.Fashion starter pack

39.Get up at 9 a.m

40.Like this?

41.Tennis fans

42.Hair still perfect

43.What? Who?

44.Grand Slam Title

45.Character

46.If you know what I mean

47.Deportovic

48.My size

49.A new italian player

50.Unseeded?

The Australian Open began its journey in 1905, but received recognition only in 1969, until that time the tournament was not professional and did not have such prestige. Since 1988, it has been played on hard, although grass was originally the main surface. For a long time the organizers could not decide on the time of the tournament. 

There was a time when the AO was held during the New Year holidays, which is why the leading tennis players sometimes preferred to skip the tournament in order to tritely spend Christmas at home and not the strongest ones won at all in those years. By the method of many trials and errors, changes of surface and venue, we now have one of the highest quality and most comfortable for tennis players, the first TSH of the year.

Bemorepanda collected some interesting facts about Australian Open.

1. In 1905, the first championship took place, which was called the "Championship of Australasia", in which athletes from Australia and New Zealand took part. The championship has been played in six cities in its history, leaving the Green Continent twice when the games were played in New Zealand.

2. In 1927, the tournament was renamed the "Australian Championship", and in 1969, when professionals were allowed to participate in the tournament, it changed its name to the "Australian Open Championship". In 1977, the championship was held twice - in January and December. This was caused by the transition of the tournament to December. After 10 years, the tournament was again postponed to the usual January, in connection with which the tournament was not held in 1986. Twice more the tournament was interrupted due to world wars. In 1988, the tournament moved to the new Melbourne Park Tennis Complex.

3. Tournament record holders are Australian tennis players. Roy Emerson won 6 times in singles, among women Margaret Smith Court became 11 times champion. She also owns the absolute record for the number of titles in all categories - 22 wins.

After changing from grass to hard, they started using rubber, but with the advent of high temperatures, the rubber melted, began to stick, stink, which led to big health problems for athletes and general well-being. After that, in the early 90s, Australia changed the manufacturer to the Plexicushion brand, which is still used today. The coating belongs to ITF Category 4 - Pace: Medium-Fast, in other words, the category is medium, but is classified as fast. This coating option is definitely faster than the previous one, but at the same time it allows tennis players of any style to play comfortably and, most importantly, does not turn into a sticky, hot "frying pan". Now the organizers have gone even further, in 2017 the tournament should be held on innovative courts! The Australian Open team presented the updated Rod Laver arena with a wooden surface!

4. The longest matches in the championship are: for men - (314 min.) Rafael Nadal - Fernando Verdasco 6:7, 6:4, 7:6, 6:7, 6:4 (2009), and for women - (259 min.) Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova - Regina Kulikova 7:6, 6:7, 6:3 (2010)

5. 19 years separate Australian Ken Rosewall's first and last singles title. In 1953 Ken won his first title, in 1972 his fourth. The Australian is both the youngest and oldest men's champion.

6. In December 1977, 6 months after the birth of her daughter, Yvonne Goolagong became the champion in singles for the fourth time. Thus, the Australian tennis player became the first mother who managed to win the BS tournament in the Open Era.

7. The last Australian tennis player to win at home was Chris O'Neill. By the time of her victory, she was ranked 111th in the world rankings, thus becoming the winner of the lowest rank in the history of the Open Era SH tournaments.

8. In 1984, AO began to gain international interest, and for the first time, the television company ESPN broadcast matches in the United States.

The end of January for us is the time of the year for a few warm sweaters and knitted socks, while in Australia during this period of time there is a record heat. The Australian summer is actually very sultry, life is further complicated by the hot wind from the desert, sometimes even the spectators feel bad, what can we say about tennis players. In 2014, a record was set, the heat kept at 41 degrees for several days. In that year, the record for the number of refusals in one round was set, 8 men and 1 woman. So Dantsevich in a match with Per just fainted. In this regard, a high temperature policy has been introduced, so the match can be stopped if the heat threatens the health of the athletes.

9. Winning in 1985 in succession at three tournaments - Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Martina Navratilova became the only tennis player in history who managed to make a hat-trick on the Green Continent.

10. Winning in 1997, Martina Hingis became the youngest GS champion of the 20th century.

11. To qualify for the second round of the AO-97 men's doubles event, Australians Wayne Arthurs and John Island had to play the longest set in Australian Open history. Their match against Italians Christian Brandi and Filippo Messori ended with the score 6:3, 3:6, 29:27. The entire match lasted 4 hours and 36 minutes of "clean" time - this is without taking into account the more than two-hour break due to rain, which the judge on the tower was forced to announce with the score of 25:25.

12. On January 21, 1997, due to the incessant heat that heated the courts to 60 degrees, chief arbiter Peter Bellenger agreed for the first time in the history of Grand Slam tournaments due to the heat to cover Center Court with a retractable roof.

13. The first official match between the Williams sisters took place on the Melbourne courts. In two sets, the elder sister Venus won.

The shortest match in time was not recorded, but this is definitely one of the matches won in a clean sheet with a score of 6-0; 6-0; 6-0. There were 6 of them, although all of them were played at a non-professional level. As for the longest match, it's more transparent here. 2012, Novak Djokovic - Rafa Nadal, tennis players spent 5 hours 53 minutes on the court, by the way, this match is also the longest final of the Australian Open tournament in history.

14. 21-year-old Nicolas Escude in 1998 set a record for professional Open Era tournaments: no one has ever managed to win three five-set matches in one competition, losing the first two games in each of them. The French defeated Magnus Larsson, Richie Reneberg and Nicholas Kiefer.

15. The 2001 AO was the first Grand Slam to feature a "royal" tie-break instead of a full-fledged third set in mixed doubles.

16. In 2002, Melbourne set a record among all the BS for the number of wins won by players who lost the first two sets. 13 tennis players managed to do this 14 times - Dominic Hrbaty, Fernando Vicente, Julien Buttier, Stefan Kubek (twice), Byron Black, Jose Acasuso, Ivan Lubicic, Carlos Moya, Jiri Novak, Nicolas Escude, Rainer Schuttler, Nicolas Lapentti and Wayne Ferreire. Before that, no BS tournament had more than 10 such victories.

17. Martina Navratilova, along with Leander Paes of India, set the all-time record in 2003 by winning a Grand Slam tournament at the age of 46 years and 3 months. Australian Norman Brooks, when he won the Australian Open in men's doubles in 1924, was a month younger than Martina. In Navratilova's career, this is already the 57th Grand Slam title, in the future Martina will double her achievement.

18. Right at the beginning of the 2005 AO, a doping scandal erupted in the tennis world, provoked by the Minister of Sports of Belgium, who at first stated that a prohibited drug was found in one of the samples of the participants in the demonstration tournament (Henin, Deshi, Dementieva and Kuznetsova), and already on The next day, the minister named Kuznetsova's name. As a result, the Belgian was not able to back up his words with anything, which caused even more bewilderment from such behavior of a member of the government of a European country.

19. In 2005, Marat Safin and Serena Williams, having played match points (1 and 3 respectively) in the semifinal matches against Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, eventually became champions.

20. Russian tennis players became Australian champions nine times - Kafelnikov, Safin and Sharapova won in singles, Kournikova (twice) and Kuznetsova - in pairs, and Olkhovsky, Bovina and Likhovtseva in mixed doubles.

21. Aslan Karatsev performed superbly at AO, becoming the first and, so far, only Open Era tennis player to reach the semi-finals at his debut Grand Slam tournament. In the first round, Aslan beat the Italian Gianluca Mager 6:3, 6:3, 6:4, in the second round he defeated the Belarusian Egor Gerasimov 6:0, 6:1, 6:0. In the third round, he sensationally defeated the ninth racket of the world, Argentinian Diego Schwartzman 6:3, 6:3, 6:3. Karatsev actively won 50 goals in this match, and Shvartsman only 5. Karatsev also won 10 out of 11 breakpoints.

22. In the 1/8 finals, Aslan defeated the 19th racket of the world, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in five sets 3:6, 1:6, 6:3, 6:3, 6:4 . In the quarterfinals, he defeated the 21st racket of the world and 18th seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 2:6, 6:4, 6:1, 6:2. In the semi-finals, Karatsev lost to the world number one and 8-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic with a score of 3:6, 4:6, 2:6. According to the results of the tournament, Karatsev entered the top 50 of the world ranking and earned more prize money for this tournament than in his entire previous career.

23. In general, the tournament was not very successful for Nadal, until the quarterfinals Rafa swept over his rivals, but stumbled in the quarterfinals, the Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas was still able to put the squeeze on the Spaniard in a difficult game: the match lasted a whole 5 sets. The first two took Nadal - 6:2, 6:2, but the next 3 were left for Tsitsipas - 7:6, 6:4, 7:5.

24. In the second round match against the American Michael Mmo, Rafa had an interesting situation. In the middle of the game, during Nadal's serve, the woman sitting in the stands began to make loud noises and interfere with the Spaniard in every possible way. When the referee asked her to calm down, she gave the player the middle finger. This greatly surprised Nadal, who asked: "Is this for me?". Nevertheless, the tennis player reacted to the situation with a smile.

25. Aslan Karatsev performed superbly at AO, becoming the first and, so far, only Open Era tennis player to reach the semi-finals at his debut Grand Slam tournament. In the first round, Aslan beat the Italian Gianluca Mager 6:3, 6:3, 6:4, in the second round he defeated the Belarusian Egor Gerasimov 6:0, 6:1, 6:0. In the third round, he sensationally defeated the ninth racket of the world, Argentinian Diego Schwartzman 6:3, 6:3, 6:3. Karatsev actively won 50 goals in this match, and Shvartsman only 5. Karatsev also won 10 out of 11 breakpoints.

26. In the 1/8 finals, Aslan defeated the 19th racket of the world, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in five sets 3:6, 1:6, 6:3, 6:3, 6:4 .. In the quarterfinals, he defeated the 21st racket of the world and 18th seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 2:6, 6:4, 6:1, 6:2. In the semi-finals, Karatsev lost to the world number one and 8-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic with a score of 3:6, 4:6, 2:6. According to the results of the tournament, Karatsev entered the top 50 of the world ranking and earned more prize money for this tournament than in his entire previous career.

27. In general, the tournament was not very successful for Nadal, until the quarterfinals Rafa swept over his rivals, but stumbled in the quarterfinals, the Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas was still able to put the squeeze on the Spaniard in a difficult game: the match lasted a whole 5 sets. The first two took Nadal - 6:2, 6:2, but the next 3 were left for Tsitsipas - 7:6, 6:4, 7:5.

28. In the second round match against the American Michael Mmo, Rafa had an interesting situation. In the middle of the game, during Nadal's serve, the woman sitting in the stands began to make loud noises and interfere with the Spaniard in every possible way. When the referee asked her to calm down, she gave the player the middle finger. This greatly surprised Nadal, who asked: "Is this for me?". Nevertheless, the tennis player reacted to the situation with a smile.

29. The main Russian star at the Australian Open, of course, was Daniil Medvedev. He went strong throughout the tour, beating even a very charged Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals, and was really close to getting Russia's first win in 16 years at the Australian Open in men's singles.

30. Djokovic calmly started the final meeting, taking the first set, after which Danya slowed down in the game at the beginning of the second set, and in the end he completely broke his racket out of anger. At that moment, it became clear that the Russian had finally lost the match - at least mentally. Result: Novak's victory, 7:5, 6:2, 6:2. But still! In his youth (25 years old), Medvedev is already quite deservedly considered a tennis star and he has every chance to take his first “Slam” in the next year or two, which of course we wish him.

31. The main female sensation of the Australian Open was the Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, who at the age of 23 has already won the fourth Grand Slam tournament in her career. In 2019, she won the Australian Open, and in 2018 and 2020, Naomi won the US Open.

32. In the semi-finals, Osaka beat the infamous 27-time Grand Slam winner, American Serena Williams, with a score of 6:3, 6:4. And in the final, she dealt with another American Jennifer Brady - 6:4, 6:3. Thus, the Japanese woman rises in the rankings and becomes the second racket of the world and this, we recall, at the age of 23!

33. Of all the Baltic athletes at the AO, two Estonians, Kaia Kanepi and Anett Kontaveit, performed the best. Yes, they only got to the third round, but they showed themselves very worthy and showed great will to win. Kanepi beat Latvian tennis player Anastasia Sevastova in the first round - 6:3, 6:1, in the second round she sensationally outperformed last year's Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin - 6:3, 6:2, in the third round she lost to Croatian Donna Vekic in a close fight - 7: 5, 6:7, 4:6.

34. Kontaveit defeated Belarusian Alexandra Sosnovich in the first round - 7:5, 6:2, in the second round Heather Watson from Britain - 6:7, 6:4, 6:2, in the third she lost to American Shelby Rogers - 4:6, 3:6.

35. For the ninth time in a row, no one can beat Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final. The Russian Daniil Medvedev did not succeed either. The entire tournament was dictated by Novak, none of the opponents could compete with him sensibly. Here are some facts from the final meeting.

36. Medvedev made 4 double faults against Djokovic's 2.

The percentage of accuracy of the first serve is better for the Serbian - 69% versus 65%.

Djokovic won 73% of the points on the first serve, the Russian tennis player has 68%.

37. Novak saved 2 break points out of 4. Medvedev saved 4, but the Serb had 11 chances.

Daniil made almost twice as many unforced errors - 30. Djokovic has 17 of them.

Thus, the Serbian tennis player won the 18th Grand Slam tournament in his career. According to this indicator, he is second only to Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who won 20 tournaments each.

38. Over the past three years, 12 women's Grand Slams have been won by 10 different players; only Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka have won twice in that time span.

39. Djokovic won his seventh Australian Open in 2019 - the most titled male in the history of the tournament. He won the Australian Open every time he reached the semi-finals.

40. Of the last 14 Australian Open tournaments, 12 have been won by Djokovic (7) or Roger Federer (5). And Rafael Nadal (2009) and Stan Wawrinka (2014) only once each.

41. Victoria Azarenka (2012, 2013), Serena Williams (2009, 2010) and Jennifer Capriati (2001, 2002) are the only women to have won two consecutive Australian Open titles since 2000.

42. Federer won his sixth Australian Open in 2018, 14 years after his first win at the tournament. No tennis player has won multiple Australian Opens in such a long period of time.

43. Since 2005, only Serena Williams (2010, 2015) and Azarenka (2013) have won the title of the best tennis player at the Australian Open.

44. Serena Williams has not won any of the last 11 Grand Slams. The last win at the Australian Open came in 2017 when she was pregnant - the longest period of time without a major title for an American.

45. Petra Kvitova lost in the final of the Australian Open last year, the only time she has gone past the quarter-finals in her last 19 Grand Slam appearances since winning Wimbledon in 2014.

46. Nadal and Andy Murray have finished runners-up in 9 of the last 10 Australian Open men's finals. Murray lost five times and Nadal four times. Marin Cilic in 2018 is the only other tennis player to lose in an Australian Open final during that period.

47. The last Australian to reach the Australian Open men's final was Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 and the last Australian to win the title was Mark Edmondson in 1976 (against fellow countryman John Newcomb).

48. Another interesting record belongs to Mark Edmondson, the Australian in 1976, being 212 in the ranking, thus, being a non-seeded player, became the champion of the AO, setting an absolute record of all 4 TBSH and at the same time is the last Australian who managed to win at home major. Rosewall and Edmondson are the main heroes of their country, but we hope that at least one record will be updated soon.

49. In 2002, in the semi-final doubles match, Julien Boutier fought so selflessly on the court that in one of the episodes, with a powerful blow from the forehand, he killed a flying swallow, judging by the reaction of the audience, this only amused them.

50. Beetles on the courts are already a common thing, but what about the Heron?) The fauna of Australia is more interesting, so in one of the matches between Troicki - Muñoz de la Nava in 2016, the match had to be suspended a bit due to the appearance of a bird on the court.