Forecast and bets for the Australian Open tennis championship. Australian Open Women's Singles Australian Open Favorites

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Time spending: 15.1.2018 - 28.1.2018

Coating: hard

Total prize fund: $33,000,000

Tournament description:

Australian Open or Australian Open 2018 is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The competition takes place at Melbourne Park Stadium in Melbourne. The Australian Open was first held in 1905 under the name "Australasian Championship". In 1927, the tournament was renamed the “Australian Championship”; in 1969 it became open to professionals from various countries.

The Australian Open championship is played on hard courts. Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena. Today the prize fund of the WTA tournament is $12,122,762. The most titled tennis player in Australia Open is Australian Nancy Wynn Bolton (1926-1951) - 20 victories. Thelma Long (1936-1958) - 18 victories. These victories occurred at those stages of the competition when only Australian tennis players took part in them. Notable achievements were made by Australian Margaret Smith, who won the tournament 7 times in a row.

The first foreign champion in the women's section of the Australia Open tournament was Dorothy Round in 1935. The youngest champion was Swiss Martina Hingins in 1997, when she was 16 years and 3 months old. The oldest winner of the tournament was Australian Thelma Long at 35 years and 8 months in 1954.

"(English) The Australasian Championships). 17 athletes took part in it, and 5 thousand spectators were present at the final match. In 1927, the tournament was renamed the Australian Championships. In 1969, it became open to professionals and received its current name.

Since 1905, the championship has been 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 and).

In 1972, it was decided to hold the tournament in the same city every year. The grass courts of the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, a suburb of Melbourne, were chosen as the venue. Over time, the Cuyong Club became too small for the significantly expanded tournament. By the start of the 1988 championship, construction had been completed on the new tennis complex Melbourne Park (Melbourne Park, formerly Flinders Park), where the tournament was moved that year. The move was a significant success - attendance at matches immediately increased, and the 1988 tournament was attended by 90% more spectators (266,436) than the previous year in Cuyong (140,000).

In addition to the problems with the Cuyong stadium (which, among other things, had a sloping ground that meant players on one side of the main court had to literally walk uphill to reach the net), the popularity of the Australian Open in the late 1970s and early 1980s -ies was negatively affected by the professionalization of tennis. Leading players at this time were already earning such large sums that they could afford to miss even the Grand Slam tournament due to the fact that going 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 took part 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: Chris O'Neill won in the women's singles in 1978, and Barbara Jordan in 1979, in the men's singles in 1980 In 1977, Brian Teacher excelled and plans for a two-week super-tournament in Florida threatened to displace the Melbourne event as a Grand Slam tournament, so to make it easier to attract elite players to the Australian Open, a decision was made following the January 1977 tournament decision to move the date to the end of November and the beginning of December... Therefore, in 1977, the championship was held for the second time - in December. It continued to be organized in this month in subsequent years. Starting in 1987, the tournament was again moved to January, so in 1986 the championship was not carried out.

Obviously, the likelihood of anyone else winning is extremely low. Probably, the fate of the trophy will once again go to one of the great trinity. However, other athletes, although rarely, periodically reach the final match. In 2008, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the main match, and Marin Cilic played in the last Australian Open. For these purposes, BC "1xBet" offers to bet on a tennis player who will simply reach the final match. Quotes can be found below:

The finalist of the last draw was the Croatian athlete Marin Cilic, who during the tournament was able to beat Rafael Nadal. Why not repeat last year's success this time? You can’t discount Juan Martin Del Potro, who is an improved version of Cilic in terms of his playing style. For several years in a row, the Argentine could not reach his level due to constant injuries, but last season Del Potro already resembled his former self, so there is every chance of seeing the good giant in the final match.

The younger generation of athletes attracts attention. Alexander Zverev has been beating around the bush with high results for several years now, but so far his best result at a Grand Slam tournament is the French quarterfinals. But the 20-year-old Greek of Russian origin, Stefanos Tsitsipas, may well surprise from a positive point of view. Last season, he was remembered by everyone for his performance at the tournament in Toronto, where he one-by-one defeated four representatives of the top ten in the world rankings: Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson. Only Rafael Nadal was able to stop the unstoppable Greek in the final match.

The young Croatian Borna Coric, who was able to make a qualitative leap forward over the past season, also has every chance to make a shot. Few people manage to beat the great Roger Federer twice in a row, but 21-year-old Coric was able to, first beating the Swiss in Halle, and then leaving no chance at all in Shanghai, defeating the titled Federer in 74 minutes. Coric is great on hard court, so we should expect good results from him.

Particular attention should be paid to Nick Kyrgios, who is still only 23 years old, but it feels like he has been on tour for a long time. Having shone brightly during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Nick became increasingly memorable for his unstable mood, character problems and other things that clearly prevented him from playing. However, Kyrgios is incredibly talented, so with the right mindset for the tournament, he is capable of delivering a good result. Moreover, he was born in Australia, so he is guaranteed support from local stands.

Australian Open favorites in women's singles

In the women's part of the tournament, as expected, the intrigue is much more serious than in the men's. There is Serena Williams, who is a seven-time Australian Open champion, there is Victoria Azarenka, who managed to take the Australian Slam in 2012 and 2013, and there is not a single active tennis player who could take the Australian Open more than once. The most interesting thing is that among the current athletes, only three tennis players reached the finals of the tournament more than once - Serena Williams (seven victories + finals in 2016), Venus Williams (2003 and 2017) and Maria Sharapova (victory in 2008 + finals in 2007 and 20015). Based on this, there are a huge number of options for finalists in the next Australian Open. BC "1xBet" offers the following quotes for athletes reaching the finals:

• Serena Williams - 4,96 ;
• Angelique Kerber - 7,9 ;
• Naomi Osaka - 9,9 ;
• Arina Sabalenko – 10,5 ;
• Petra Kvitova – 14,5 ;
• Elina Svitolina – 14,5 ;
• Garbiñe Muguruza – 15,0 ;
• Karolina Pliskova – 15,0 ;
• Ashleigh Barty - 15, ;
• Caroline Wozniacki - ;
• Simona Halep – 19, ;
• Madison Keys – 19,0 ;
• Sloane Stephens - 19, ;
• Kiki Bertens – 23,0 ;
• Maria Sharapova – 23, ;
• Daria Kasatkina – 25, ...

All the champions of the tournament who are continuing their careers can be considered among the contenders for reaching the final match. There are four of them: Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. The current champion of the Australian Open is the Danish Wozniacki, who slowed down a little after the victory in Australia, but at the end of the season she was able to win the prestigious title in Beijing, just on hard court.

Angelique Kerber won the Australian Open in 2016, and last season she was able to reach the semi-finals, where in a dramatic match she lost to Simona Halep in the deciding set 9:7. The German tennis player did not survive this setback for long and a few months later she proved her highest level by winning Wimbledon.

Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open title in 2012 and 2013, is also gradually trying to return to tennis. For her, these victories are the only ones at Grand Slam tournaments, which indicates her good adaptation to Australian conditions. If the representative of Belarus can get in shape for the new season, then her aggressive style of play could allow her to achieve good results at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.

How are ours doing?

Despite the fact that women's tennis in Russia has been more successful in recent years, the most striking Russian victory on the courts of Melbourne Park was won by Marat Safin, who beat local athlete Lleyton Hewitt in the final match. Since then, the Russians have not been able to reach the main match of the tournament, and the last veteran was Mikhail Youzhny, who retired in 2018. Now Russian tennis fans place all their hope in young people. The greatest chances to show a decent result are Karen Khachanov and Andrei Rublev. Karen's best result at the Australian Open is only reaching the second round, and Andrey's is reaching the third. If at least one of the Russians manages to reach the fourth round, it will already be a success.

In the women's part of the tournament, all attention is drawn to the 2008 Australian Open champion and finalist in 2012 and 2015 Maria Sharapova. She is one of only three active tennis players to reach the final of an Australian Slam more than once. Last season, the former first racket of the world was able to reach the third round, but then was defeated by Angelique Kerber, who had gained excellent form. This year too, according to BC

Tennis tournament Australian Open (Australian Open)

Australian Open is the Australian Open Tennis Championship, a tennis tournament among professionals, held in late January early February in Melbourne, where the strongest athletes in the world perform, who have passed the most difficult selection and qualification according to the international top rankings of ATP and WTA. The Australian Open Tennis Championships is one of the most famous and prestigious tennis championships in the world and one of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments. The prize fund of these ten-day competitions overseas, where the best tennis players on the planet demonstrate their skills, is currently about 33.5 million dollars.

The history of the Australian Championships dates back to the first decade of the 20th century - these are one of the most significant tennis competitions not only in the largest state in the Southern Hemisphere, but also in the world, which are now held at the end of the first month of winter on fast hard courts with a hard surface in the southernmost millionaire city in the world and open the season of Grand Slam tournaments within the calendar year. Russian athletes have repeatedly become winners of this largest event in tennis. The first victory at the Australian Championship in men's singles among Russians belonged to Andrei Olkhovsky (1994). In 2005, this achievement was repeated by Marat Safin. Maria Sharapova was the first Russian to achieve such success in women's singles at the Australia Open in 2008. In doubles and mixed doubles, Russian athletes achieved even greater heights and repeatedly brought home top awards. Anna Kournikova was the first Russian woman to do this in 1999; paired with Martina Hingis, they won the Australian OPEN twice, the second time in 2002. Two years later, Elena Bovina with Nenad Zimonich and a year later Svetlana Kuznetsova, paired with Alicia Molik won the Australian Open. In 2007, the championship was won by Elena Likhovtseva paired with Daniel Nestor, and in 2012 the victory was celebrated by the Russian couple Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva. In 2016, Elena Vesnina and Bruno Soares again rose to the top step of the podium.

This section contains the latest reliable information, a complete table with online championship results Australian Open 2020 from Melbourne for both men and women. This page of our sports portal presents the calendar of the Australian championship, which reflects the results of all matches of the tennis tournament bracket in singles according to the ATP (men) and WTA (women). Cup scheme, ranking of the best athletes and a detailed calendar of all matches, and if you go to the global section, you can find the results and competition schedule of other important events in this sport that we have yet to see this season. In our online results sports section, the scores and results of absolutely all matches of the Australia Open tennis tournament, with the date and time of past and starting games. For the convenience of readers, the information is presented in tabular data, where we have highlighted the athletes and teams of the Russian national team in bright colors. Additionally, in the sections “Tennis News”, “Tennis Blogs”, “TV Broadcasts”, “Video” you can find all the news, analytics, expert opinions, videos, broadcast schedules, sports reviews and results of all games of the Australian Open Tennis Championships, as well as all other significant events of this tennis season. We discuss the results of the Australian Open, read sports news, sum up the results, try to predict who will reach the semi-finals and finals of the tournament, comment on the matches in our live chat, analyze the games, predict the score, place bets and root for our team with all our hearts! Go Russia!

The first tournament called the Australasian Championships took place in November 1905. It was organized by the Melbourne Cricket Club. The matches were played in a 5-set format. 17 tennis players took part. The final match between Rodney Heath and Albert Curtis (4:6; 6:3; 6:4; 6:4) was watched by 5 thousand spectators. Heath was awarded by his father, vice-president of the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association ( Author's note – The Association included Australia and New Zealand. In 1922, New Zealand formed its own association).

The championship was not held during two World Wars: 1916-1918 and 1941-1945.

In 1922, women joined the men. The first champion was Australian Margaret Molesworth. From this year, the championship began to be held in all five categories and only in the period from 1970 to 1985 there was no mixed category in its program, and in 1965 and 1969 mixed category finals were not held (due to lack of time) and the finalists shared the awards equally.

In 1923, at the Annual General Conference of the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), along with Wimbledon, the French and US championships, since 1924 the Australasian Championship was included in the main tournaments (majors) of the ILTF ( Author's note – The term “Grand Slam” tournaments appeared later. More details).

In 1927, after New Zealand gained independent membership of the ILTF in 1923, the tournament was named the Australian Championship.

Due to the geographical location of the "Green Continent", in the first half of the 20th century, the vast majority of foreign players did not take part in the championship. In the 1920s, a ship trip from Europe to Australia took 40-45 days. The first foreign participant was the American Fred Alexander in 1908. He won the championship title.

Even local players had problems with travel. In 1906, the championship was held in Christchurch (New Zealand) and of the 8 participants, only one was Australian, the rest were New Zealanders. In 1909, when the tournament was held in Perth, Western Australia, no one from the states of Victoria and New South Wales crossed the approximately 3000 km distance between the east and west coasts by train.

Thus, many world-class players have never visited Australia. Among them are the Docherty brothers, Americans William Larned, Maurice McLaughlin, Beals Wright, Bill Johnston, Bill Tilden, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Pancho Gonzalez, Budge Patty, Frenchmen Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Suzanne Lenglen and others. For this reason, in the pre-war years, foreigners very rarely became champions of Australia: the Frenchman Jean Borotra (1928), the Englishman Fred Perry (1934) and the American Don Budge (1938).

From 1905 to 1971, the championship did not have a permanent residence, and it was held in: Sydney (17 times), Melbourne (16 times), Adelaide (14 times), Brisbane (7 times), Perth (3 times), New Zealand (2 times, in 1906 and 1912).

Since 1928, the leading players began to be seeded.

Since 1930, singles began to be held among boys and girls (under 19 years of age), and doubles (except mixed doubles) in this category began in 1983. The first winner among girls was Australian Emily Hood, who won the senior doubles title the same year and became the women's singles champion in 1939 ( Author's note: I couldn't find any information on boys).

In 1972, it was decided to hold the tournament in only one city - Melbourne. The venue chosen was the grass courts of the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Kooyong (a suburb of Melbourne).

In the post-war years, with the advent of regular air services, the Australian Championship gained great popularity. The prestige of the tournament was also facilitated by the appearance of a galaxy of Australian players dominating the world tennis Olympus. They are: Frank Sedgman (born 1927), Ken McGregor (born 1929), Neil Fraser (born 1933), Ken Rosewall (born 1934), Lew Hoad (born 1934). ), Roy Emerson (born 1936), Ashley Cooper (born 1936), Rod Laver (born 1938), Fred Stoll (born 1938), Margaret Court (born 1942) , Leslie Turner (born 1942), Owen Davidson (born 1943), John Newcombe (born 1944), Tony Roche (born 1945) ( Author’s note – The 50-60s of the last century were called the “Golden Age” of Australian tennis, and two people played a huge role in its heyday: Norman Brooks - President of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia (1926-1955) and Harry Knopman - an outstanding coach ( 1938-1977), who was called "the legend behind the legends").

With the beginning of the “Open Era”, the tournament became open to professionals in 1969 and was appropriately called the “Australian Open”. The first Soviet athlete, Estonian Toomas Leius, also flew to this championship, who reached the 3rd round in singles, and played in the quarterfinals in doubles with Australian Mel Anderson. And the best achievements of Soviet players are: the victory of Belarusian Natalya Zvereva in mixed doubles (with American Jim Pugh) in 1990; reaching the semifinals of Georgian Alexander Metreveli in 1972 and Russian Natalya Chmyreva in 1975; quarterfinals of Russian Olga Morozova in 1972 and 1975.

In 1971, taking into account the title sponsor, its name was slightly changed: “Dunlop Australian Open”. In 1984, the tournament was sponsored by the Swiss tobacco company Philip Morris, and the championship was the Marlboro Australian Open. In 1994, for the same reason, the championship was renamed the Ford Australian Open.

1971 was the first year in which all sets except the deciding set were played as tiebreaker sets, and the only year in which the tournament was held in the spring, from March 7 to 14 ( Author's note – At the request of the general sponsor, the tournament was included in the professional World Tennis Championship (WCT), consisting of 21 tournaments).

In 1972, Australian Ken Rosewall won the championship for the fourth time, after winning his first title at 19 years old (1953). Rosewall is both the youngest (18 years 79 days) and oldest (37 years 76 days) singles champion.

From the same year, the start of the championship was moved to the last days of December and the athletes had to celebrate Christmas and New Year far from home. This circumstance led to the fact that many leading players, who earned enough money from tournaments in Europe and the USA, allowed themselves to skip it. Thus, the American Chris Evert, at the peak of her career, ignored him 6 times in a row, the Czech Martina Navratilova - 4 times, the Czech Jan Kodes never booked a ticket to a remote continent, the Swede Bjorn Borg flew (at the age of 18) only once - in 1974, American Jimmy Connors twice - in 1974-1975. As a result, the winners of the Australian Open were players who could not claim victory at any other major. For example, in 1976, when Australian Mark Edmondson became champion, his position in the ranking was only 212 ( Author's note: Edmondson is the last Australian to win the Australian Open.), and in 1980 the American Brian Teacher (Brian Teacher) excelled, whose best performance besides this victory was the quarterfinals at Wimbledon 1982. Among women, in 1978, Australian Chris O'Neill won (111), who previously had the best achievement - reaching the 3rd round of Wimbledon 1974, and in 1979 - American Barbara Jordan, who after this victory was only able to get through three times to the 3rd round of the US Open and once to the same stage of the Wimbledon tournament.

In addition, the prize fund of the Australian Open was (and is) the smallest of all the majors. At the 1969 Australian Open, the winner of the men's singles received $4,500 (AUD) and the winner of the women's singles received $1,750 (AUD). While at the “US Open-1969” these prize money were at the rate of $15,068 (AUD) and $6,457 (AUD), respectively. Due to low financial incentives, most of the leading tennis players, including Australians, living in the United States, did not come next year. The organizers had to work hard to attract new sponsors in order to significantly increase the prize fund in 1971. The British company Dunlop Sport was especially helpful, costing $125,000 for its sponsorship.

The sale of television rights has also become a serious source of funds to increase the prize fund. National television broadcasts began in 1973, and the first international broadcast (in the United States) was carried out by the American sports channel ESPN.

In the end, the organizers took into account the wishes of the players regarding the timing, and since 1982 the start of the tournament was moved to the end of November. However, the first and third rackets of the world, John McEnroe and Ivan Ledl, did not come to the “Australian Open-1982”, who preferred an exhibition tournament in Antwerp with a much larger prize fund - $ 700,000 and with 12 participants. Third ranked Jimmy Connors was also absent. And the championship title was confirmed by the American Joen Krick, who was 12th in the ranking.

However, holding the championship at the very end of the season, when the players were quite tired, again did not contribute to its popularity. Therefore, starting in 1987, the Australian Open began to be held in the second half of January: starting on the second or third Monday with the expectation of its completion on the last Sunday of January ( Author's note – For this reason, “Australian Open-1986” is not included in the historical chronicle).

However, again, the timing is still not entirely comfortable, since this period is the hottest in Australia.

From the memoirs of the famous Ukrainian tennis player Andrei Medvedev: " In 1997, during my 4th round match with Michael Chang, the thermometer on the referee's tower read 61 degrees! As a result, forced consumption of huge amounts of liquid and constant change of clothes. But not only. In the same fight, the soles of two brand new pairs of sneakers were completely worn out! They simply could not stand the hot court. By the way, Michael’s pair also fell into disrepair. Before meeting Chang, I played a five-set match with Michael Stich, who won the deciding set with a score of 11:9. So during the fight I drank eight liters of water, and when I weighed myself, it turned out that I had lost three kilograms. I believe these facts give a general idea of ​​the degree of stress that tennis players in Australia experience.

Sometimes I had to literally force myself to play, but I can handle everything. With the heat, with the wind, which very often makes adjustments to the game with its strong gusts, with the opponents... You just need to be prepared for it. During the day, you prepare a few towels with ice for the game; during the evening session, you can put a light jacket in your bag. In Melbourne, the climate is generally very changeable. The heat of the day can easily give way to evening coolness, and after sunset the temperature can drop to fourteen degrees.

The championship, in fact, begins a new season, you are rested and full of strength, so small additional loads are relatively easy to bear".

The constant overheating of players and the resulting heat strokes led to the fact that since 1998 the Australian Open regulations introduced such a concept as the “Extreme Heat Policy”, which provides for the suspension of matches at a certain temperature and the closure of retractable roofs over main arenas. There were two such cases: January 20, 2003 (37 o C) for 2 hours, January 25, 2009 (45 o C) for 4 hours, and January 16, 2014 (43.3 o C) for 4 hours. Since 2015, the threshold for extreme temperatures has been set at 40 o C. However, it is not a prerequisite for temporarily stopping games, and the decision in such a situation is made by the tournament referee based on the condition of fulfilling the schedule of all matches by the end of the tournament ( Author's note – Until 2015 the temperature threshold was 35 o C, and the decision at the discretion of the referee was introduced in 2008.).

Why not move the tournament to the second half of February, when the heat noticeably subsides? Of course, we will have to rebuild the ATP and WTA tour calendars. But this is not the main argument. The fact is that the end of January and the beginning of February are school holidays in Australia, and fans traditionally come to the stands with their children ( Children's tickets are available from 3 to 14 years old). Postponing the championship means losing such a serious segment of the target audience ( Author's note – The Australian Open has held second place in terms of attendance among Grand Slam tournaments for many years, second only to the US Open, and if we take it as a percentage of the country's population, it will be more than anywhere else was. Tennis is considered the national sport in Australia).

Now let's return to the chronology. In 1978, the following sensationally dropped out of the tournament bracket: 3rd seeded American Beth Norton (in the 2nd round); 4th seeded Australian Amanda Tobin (1st round); 5th seeded American Renee Blount (in 2nd round); 6th seeded Australian Cynthia Doerner (in 1st round). As a result, the world number 112, Australian Chris O'Neill, won ( Author's note: In 1973, she won the junior Australian Open).

For the Australian Open 2015, the capacity of the Margaret Court Arena stands was increased to 7,500 seats and a retractable roof was erected, which closes in just 5 minutes.

Since 1988, the surface of the courts has also changed. Instead of grass, the new courts were equipped with green hard "Rebound Ace" (used until 2008), and since 2008 - blue hard "Plexicushion", which is more heat-resistant ( more about court surfaces) (Author's note – Interesting fact: the only player to win the Australian Open on both grass (1983, 1984) and hard courts (1988) is Mats Wilander. And the winners on different hard surfaces are Roger Federer and Serena Williams).

With the championship moving to Flinders Park, attendance at its matches increased significantly, with 90% more spectators in 1988 (266,436) than in the previous year in Cuyong (140,000) ( Author's note – In Kuyot since 1988. An exhibition tournament began to be held. More details).

For the Australian Open 1996, two more demonstration courts were built with a capacity of 3,000 and 800 seats.

The second largest arena (Hisense Arena), which has three tiers of stands and can accommodate 9,500 spectators for tennis competitions, was opened in 2000 and also has a retractable roof that can close (open) in 10 minutes.

19 courts are used for official championship matches, the rest are used as training courts ( for participants - free). Three arenas and 4 demonstration courts are equipped with the Hawk-Eye electronic system.

In 1998, 21-year-old Frenchman Nicolas Escudé set a record for professional Open Era tournaments: he made three comebacks in which Swede Magnus Larsson was defeated (5:7; 4:6; 7:5; 6:1; 10:8) , American Richie Reneberg (1:6; 6:7(0); 6:2; 7:5; 6:4) and German Nicholas Kiefer (3:6; 4:6; 6:4; 6:1; 6 :2). In the semi-finals he was stopped by Chilean Marcelo Rios ( Author's note: For Nicolas Escude, participation in this championship was the most successful).

The record for comebacks among all majors was set at the Australian Open 2002, which were made 14 times. 13 tennis players scored: Dominik Hrbaty, Fernando Vicente, Julien Bouttier, Stefan Kubek (twice), Byron Black, Jose Acasuso, Ivan Ljubicic, Carlos Moya, Jiri Novak, Nicolas Escude, Rainer Schuttler, Nicholas Lapentti and Wayne Ferreira ( Author's note – Before this, there had never been more than 10 such victories at any major.).

This championship also went down in history because the 2nd round was already held without the top three best tennis players in the world, which happened for the first time in the history of majors. Australian Lleyton Hewitt (1) lost to Spaniard Alberto Martin (6:1; 1:6; 4:6; 6:7 (4)). There has never been such a thing in the history of the Australian Open for the seeded leader to finish his performance after the 1st round. And the day before that, Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten (2) lost. The third racket of the world, American Andre Agassi (3), withdrew from the tournament due to injury.

In the 2nd round, Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov (4) and Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean (5) lost. The German Tomi Haas (7), the Russian Marat Safin (9), the Swede Thomas Johansson (16) and the Czech Jiri Novak (26) reached the semi-finals. The Swede won his only Grand Slam title, defeating Safin in the final (3:6; 6:4; 6:4; 7:6(4)).

In 2005, the centenary of the championship was celebrated. To mark the anniversary, Australia Post issued a series of two stamps (size 37x26 mm) and an envelope (with the possibility of a special cancellation), and the Royal Australian Mint issued a commemorative $5 coin (aluminium-bronze, weight - 20 g, diameter - 38 .74 mm, cost - $20).

In 2007, the scoring system for the deciding set was changed in mixed doubles. Instead of a tiebreaker set, a super tiebreaker was played.

From the same year, wheelchair competitions began to be held in four categories (except mixed doubles).

To commemorate the 100th Men's Championship in 2012, a commemorative medal, two A$1 coins (aluminum bronze, 9g, 25mm, $15) and a $2 coin (silver, selectively gold-plated, $15) were issued in 2012. 20g, 34mm, $95) and $5 (aluminium-bronze-zinc, 20g, 38.74mm, $25).

The 100th champion was Serbian Novak Djokovic, but it was not easy for him to win the title. In the semi-finals, in 4 hours 50 minutes he barely broke the resistance of Scotsman Andy Murray (6:3; 3:6; 6:7(4); 6:1; 7:5), and in the final his confrontation with Spaniard Rafael Nadal continued 5 hours 53 minutes (5:7; 6:4; 6:2; 6:7(5); 7:5) ( Author's note – Thus, in two matches played in a row, “Nole” spent 10 hours and 43 minutes on the court, albeit with a break of 43 hours. About all the longest matches).

On January 12, 2013, the multi-purpose complex “Eastern Plaza” opened, which includes the “National Tennis Center” with 8 indoor hard courts, 5 outdoor hard courts, 8 outdoor clay courts, a fitness room and administrative knowledge of a tennis academy, as well as a seasonal shopping center and multi-storey car park.

In 2016, Tennis Australia (the organizer of the championship) and Melbourne & Olympic Parks (the owner of Melbourne Park) extended the contract for the lease of the tennis complex for the period of the Australian Open for another 20 years. Although Melbourne had a serious competitor - Sydney, the authorities of the state of Victoria promised to further develop the infrastructure of Melbourne Park and, moreover, to build a new building for the Tennis Australia office.

The Australian Open is the only major that has a brewing company as its official sponsor. In 2016, the championship organizers ended their 20-year contract with the famous Dutch company Heineken Beer. And since 2017, it was replaced by the national beer manufacturer Coopers Brewery for five years.

As for tickets, they are sold for each specific arena and for all demonstration courts (without specifying seats; you can visit any of them), and there are also entrance tickets that allow you to watch matches without stands, separately for the morning session and for the evening.

PRIZES

To reward the winner in singles, a cup was ordered in London, but it was not ready for the first championship in 1905. Australian branch of the British company Slazenger Ltd. kindly offered a gilded silver cup - an exact replica of the cup that has been awarded to the winners of the Wimbledon tournament since 1887. The "Slazenger Cup" was a challenge, and the winners received a copy of it.

In 1928, the Melbourne newspaper The Sun created a new prize (a silver vase) called the Sun Challenge Cup, which could become the property of any player who won the championship five times or three years in a row. Such a repeated triumph was the Australian Jack Crawford, who won in 1931-1933 ( Author's note – In 1933 Crawford could have become the first Grand Slam winner, winning three majors, but losing the last one - the US National Championship in the final to Fred Perry in five sets).

The names of the winners were engraved on the first prize of the Schlesinger Cup and after the establishment of the Sun Cup until 1933.

Since 1934, the prize has been a silver “ Norman Brookes Challenge Cup"(Norman Brookes Challenge Cup), named after the Australian tennis player Norman Brookes, who made a significant contribution to the development of the championship as President of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia and was also its winner in 1911. This is the same cup that was originally ordered in London in 1905, but produced in 1906. It is a copy of a large second-century AD marble Roman vase, fragments of which were found in 1770. The diameter of the bowl is 25.7 cm, and the maximum width including handles is 39 cm. Height is 28 cm, and the height of the stand is 15.5 cm.

The winner of the women's tournament is awarded " Daphne Akehurst Memorial Cup"(Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup), named after Australian tennis player Daphne Akhurst, who won the competition five times (1925-26 and 1928-30). Also established in 1934.

Only in the men's and youth doubles, representatives of post-Soviet countries have never become triumphant.

The winners are awarded smaller copies of the prizes, and the challenge cups themselves, engraved with the champions, are on display in the Rod Laver Arena and are available for viewing by visitors during excursions.

PRIZE FUND

The total prize fund increases annually and in 2019 increased by 10% and amounted to 60.5 million Austrian dollars (US$ 42.85 million; for comparison in 2019: Roland Garros - US$ 48 million; Wimbledon "- US$ 45 million; "US Open" - US$ 53 million) For men's and women's tournaments it has been the same since 2001 ( On gender equality in prize money payments in tennis).
The winners will receive: AU$ 4.5 million in singles; in doubles – AU$ 850 thousand; in mixed doubles – AU$ 180 thousand.
The losers in the 1st round will also not leave with empty pockets. Their prize money will be accordingly: AU$ 50 thousand; AU$14 thousand; AU$ 6 thousand
The winners of the 1st round of the qualifying tournament will earn about AU$ 20 thousand; 2nd – AU$ 25 thousand; 3rd (final) – AU$ 40 thousand (this is twice as much as in 2017).

A little about how athletes spend their time

Most modern tennis players love the Australian Open, primarily for the friendly atmosphere that reigns there. Almost everyone lives in the same AccorHotel. At most other tournaments, players meet their opponents only on the courts, but in Melbourne they see each other every day at breakfast, and during non-tennis periods, they repeatedly cross paths and communicate with each other accordingly. And considering that the tournament is a combined one, of which there are not so many, romances often begin here...

When free time appears and participants can afford active recreation, many try themselves as surfers or golfers. In the evenings, they most often go to the cinema or a restaurant.

You can often see photographs of tennis stars with exotic animals from Australia's oldest Melbourne Zoo.

However, players do not visit the zoo because of a great interest in the fauna. Such posing in front of cameras is subject to certain obligations to sponsors and organizers.

Official website of the Australian Open