The
Australasian Tennis Championship were first held in 1905 at the
Warehouseman's Cricket
Ground in St Kilda Road, Melbourne, It was originally organized
by the Lawn Tennis Association
of Australia. After a brief break during the First World War,
the women's singles tournament was
added in 1922 and in 1927 the competition was renamed the
Australian Championships the Australian
Open in 1969. Since 1905, The Tournament has been staged at six
different places including:
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and New Zealand. In
1972, it was decided to stage
the Tournament in the one city, rather than use a variety of
venues across the nation.
Traditionally, the tournament had been held in January. In 1977, it was
moved to December,
which resulted in there being two tournaments that year. This
lasted until 1987 when the event
moved back to January, meaning that there was no tournament in
1986.
Melbourne Park (formerly Flinders Park) was constructed in time for the
1988 Tournament.
The reason for the change was to better meet spectator demand -
which had outgrown Kooyong's capacity.
The move to Flinders Park was an immediate success, with a 90
per cent increase in attendance
in 1988 (266,436) on the previous year at Kooyong (140,000).
In 1996 the venue was expanded and renamed Melbourne Park. Since the early
nineties, the balance of
power in the men's competition has moved to America, with seven
titles from shared between Jim Courier,
Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Americans continued to take many
of the ladies' titles, with Monica Seles,
Lindsay Davenport and most recently Jennifer Capriati lifting
the trophy. In 2000 the centre court was
christened The Rod Laver Arena in honour of Australia's tennis
hero.
Here is a look at the Australian Open winners dating back to
2000.
Australian Open Winners
2008: Novak Djokovic
2007: Roger Federer
2006: Roger Federer
2005: Marat Safin
2004: Roger Federer
2003: Andre Agassi
2002: Thomas Johansson
2001: Andre Agassi
2000: Andre Agassi
Tennis betting opportunities start
with Australian Open tennis betting in January, then French Open odds in May,Wimbledon Tennis odds in June/July and US Open Tennis
betting opportunities in August.
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Australian Open quick fact
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Ken Rosewall won his first title
in 1953 to become the youngest Australian Open winner. Over the
next
twenty years he won the title again in 1955, 1971 and 1972,
making him the oldest winner as well
as the youngest.
Rod Laver Arena
(previously known as Centre Court or the National Tennis Centre)
Built on crown land during 1986�1988, the initial development,
including Rod Laver Arena and two
show courts, opened in January 1988 for the Australian Open.
In 1995 the site expanded to include:
Melbourne Park Function Centre
Garden Square
Additional tennis courts, including one extra show court and one
clay court.YOUNGEST
CHAMPIONS
Men's singles: Ken Rosewall (18 years, 2 months) in 1953.
Women's singles: Martina Hingis (16 years, 3 months) in 1997.
OLDEST CHAMPIONS
Men's singles: Ken Rosewall (37 years, 2 months) in 1972.
Women's singles: Thelma Long (35 years, 8 months) in 1954.
MOST SUCCESSIVE SINGLES
Men: Roy Emerson (5) 1963-1967
Women: Margaret Smith (7) 1960-1966
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