Australian Open

The Australian Open is traditionally the first Grand Slam event of the year, and it hosts one of the most impressive line-ups in the entire tennis calendar, with the best players attending.

The Australian is one of only four Grand Slam events each year and is the first in the season's first month. Generally, it is one of the strongest events of the year due to having star-studded entry lists, as most players are fully healthy at the start of the season.

Played since 1905, the Australian Open saw a lot of tennis history unfold on its courts. Matches have been played at Melbourne Park since 1988 and in Melbourne since 1972. The tournament is organized by Tennis Australia, which is the governing body of Australian tennis, and it's held at Melbourne Park.

Until 1987, the Australian Open was a grass-court tournament, but in 1988, it moved to Melbourne Park, and with it, the tournament also changed surfaces from the grass to hard courts.

Some of the iconic venues include the Rod Laver Arena, which has a capacity of 14,820. Other courts include the 10,300-seater John Cain Arena. The Margaret Court Arena has 7,500 seats and is the third-largest venue in the park. These are also the only three courts in Melbourne Park that have a retractable roof.

The event has generally been associated with Melbourne, which hosted 66 editions of the event, but previously, the Australian Open was played in other Australian cities as well, such as Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth, and also in New Zealand's Christchurch and Hastings.

The Australian Open has the nickname "The Happy Slam," and every year, the tournament becomes even bigger and greater. In 2024, the Australian Open started on Sunday for the first time in its 119-year history.

The Sunday start was then kept also for the 2025 edition. It was introduced to reduce the number of late-night finishes tied to the large amount of matches that take place in the first round of the tournament.

Every year, the Australian Open attendance numbers grow higher, with the event organizers expanding the venue, and in 2024, it crossed the one-million mark, attracting 1,020,763 to become the first Grand Slam tournament to attract over a million spectators in one year.

The event saw a lot of history unfold on its courts as the most successful player in the tournament's history is Australian legend Margaret Court, who won it 11 times. Novak Djokovic is the most successful man with ten trophies, while Serena Williams is the most successful woman in the Open Era, winning seven trophies in Melbourne.

When it comes to the doubles, the Bryan Brothers, Mike and Bob, won the event six times, and Martina Navratilova won it record eight times in the doubles.

Every year, the winners are presented with a trophy, with both men's and women's singles trophies being different and unique. The women's singles winner receives the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, named after a five-time Australian Open winner, while men receive the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, named after a player who won the Australian Open in 1911.