Australian Open

The Australian Open is a big tennis tournament that happens every year in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of the four most important tennis tournaments in the world, called the major tournaments. The Australian Open is the first of these four tournaments each year. It happens before the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

This tournament usually starts in the middle of January and lasts for two weeks. It has many events, such as men's and women's singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and tournaments for younger players and wheelchair athletes. The Australian Open used to be played on grass courts, but now it uses a special hard court surface.

The Australian Open began in 1905 and has grown to become one of the biggest sports events in the Southern Hemisphere. It is often called "the happy slam" because so many people come to watch. The tournament takes place at Melbourne Park and helps bring money to the local economy.

History

The Australian Open is managed by Tennis Australia, formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia. It was first played at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in Melbourne in November 1905. The place is now called the Albert Reserve Tennis Centre and had grass courts.

The tournament was first called the Australasian Championships. It became the Australian Championships in 1927. Then, in 1969, it was named the Australian Open. Since 1905, it has been held 110 times in five Australian cities: Melbourne (66 times), Sydney (17 times), Adelaide (15 times), Brisbane (7 times), Perth (3 times), and two New Zealand cities: Christchurch and Hastings.

It began in 1905, but it was not called a major championship until 1924. No tournament was held from 1916 to 1918 because of World War I.

During World War II, the tournament did not happen from 1941 to 1945. In 1972, it was decided to hold the tournament in Melbourne each year because it was the most popular city. The tournament was played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club from 1972 until it moved to the new Flinders Park complex in 1988.

The new facilities at Flinders Park were built because the old place was too small. The move to Flinders Park was very successful. In 1988, there were 90 percent more people watching than the year before at Kooyong.

Because Australia is far away, few players from other countries came to the tournament in the early 1900s. In the 1920s, it took about 45 days to travel from Europe to Australia by ship. The first players to come by airplane were US Davis Cup players in November 1946.

The first tournaments of the Australasian Championships had competition from other tournaments in Australasia. Before 1905, every Australian state and New Zealand had their own championships. The first was in Melbourne in 1880 and was called the Championship of the Colony of Victoria. In those years, the best players – Australian Norman Brookes and New Zealander Anthony Wilding – almost did not play.

Starting in 1969, when the first Australian Open was held on the Milton Courts in Brisbane, the tournament was open to all players, including professionals. But except for 1969 and 1971, many top players did not come until 1982 because of the distance, bad dates, and low prize money.

In 1983, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Mats Wilander played. Wilander won the singles title. After the 1983 Australian Open, the International Tennis Federation asked to move the tournament because Kooyong was too small. In 1988 the tournament was first held at Flinders Park (later renamed Melbourne Park). The surface changed from grass to a hard court called Rebound Ace.

In 2008, Rebound Ace was replaced by a new surface called Plexicushion Prestige. The new surface is better and keeps heat away better.

From 1982 to 1985, the tournament was in mid-December. Then it moved to mid-January (January 1987), so there was no tournament in 1986. From 1987 to 2026, the date did not change (except for 2021, when it was moved to February because of the COVID-19 pandemic). In 2026, it will be in late January.

A retractable roof was added to Margaret Court Arena. This made the Open the first of the four Grand Slams to have retractable roofs on three of its main courts. The player and fan areas were improved and the tournament grew into nearby Birrarung Marr.

In December 2018, tournament organisers said they would follow Wimbledon and the US Open and use tie-breaks in the final sets of men's and women's singles matches. The Australian Open uses a first to 10 points breaker at 6 games all. In 2020, the tournament changed to GreenSet for the court surface.

In 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches used electronic line judging. This was the first time a Grand Slam used only electronic line judging.

Starting in 2024, the Australian Open began on a Sunday, one day earlier. Day sessions on Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena had two matches instead of three to avoid very late finishes.

The 2025 Australian Open was the first to present pickleball. From January 24 to the 26th the AO Pickleball Slam tournament was held on Court 3 at Melbourne Park.

Courts

The Australian Open is played at Melbourne Park, in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct. The event moved there in 1988. Three courts have roofs that close during rain or very hot weather. Spectators can watch on Show Courts 2 and 3, which hold 3,000 people each, and on other courts with temporary seating.

A new stadium that holds 5,000 people began building in 2019. This stadium, Kia Arena, opened to the public in November 2021. From 2008 to 2019, the courts used a surface called Plexicushion. Since 2020, a different surface called GreenSet has been used.

Court	Opened	Capacity	Arena Roof
Rod Laver Arena	1988	14,820	Retractable
John Cain Arena	2000	10,300	Retractable
Margaret Court Arena (Formerly Show Court 1)	1988	7,500	Retractable
Show Court Arena (Kia Arena)	2021	5,000	No
Show Court 2 (1573 Arena)	1988	3,000	No
Show Court 3 (ANZ Arena)	1988	3,000	No

Ranking points

Players earn points at the Australian Open for men (ATP) and women (WTA). The points have changed over time. Here is how players earn points today:

Event		W	F	SF	QF	R16	R32	R64	R128	Q	Q3	Q2	Q1
Singles	Men	2000	1300	800	400	200	100	50	10	30	16	8	0
Singles	Women	2000	1300	780	430	240	130	70	10	40	30	20	2
Doubles	Men	2000	1200	720	360	180	90	0	–	–	–	–	–
Doubles	Women	2000	1300	780	430	240	130	10	–	–	–	–	–

Prize money and trophies

The prize money for the men’s and women’s singles tournaments is the same. In 2026, the total prize money is A$111.5 million.

The winners’ names are written on special cups that are kept forever. In 2013, a company called ABC Bullion got the right to make these cups. It takes more than 250 hours to make each cup.

The women's singles winner gets the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.
The men's singles winner gets the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.

Event	W	F	SF	QF	4R	3R	2R	1R	Q3	Q2	Q1
Singles	A$4,150,000	A$2,150,000	A$1,250,000	A$750,000	A$480,000	A$327,750	A$225,000	A$150,000	A$83,500	A$57,000	A$40,500
Doubles	A$900,000	A$485,000	A$275,000	A$158,000	A$92,000	A$68,000	A$44,000	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a

Champions

Former champions

Some of the past winners of the Australian Open include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles champions. You can find out more about all the champions here.

Current champions

Most recent finals

**2026 Australian Open**
Carlos Alcaraz, 2026 men's singles champion. Elena Rybakina, 2026 women's singles champion. Christian Harrison was part of the 2026 winning men's doubles team. Neal Skupski was part of the 2026 winning men's doubles team. Elise Mertens was part of the 2026 winning women's doubles team. Zhang Shuai was part of the 2026 winning women's doubles team. Olivia Gadecki was part of the 2026 winning mixed doubles team. John Peers was part of the 2026 winning mixed doubles team.

2026 Event	Champion	Runner-up	Score
Men's singles	Carlos Alcaraz	Novak Djokovic	2–6, 6–2, 6–3, 7–5
Women's singles	Elena Rybakina	Aryna Sabalenka	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Men's doubles	Christian Harrison Neal Skupski	Jason Kubler Marc Polmans	7–6^(7–4), 6–4
Women's doubles	Elise Mertens Zhang Shuai	Anna Danilina Aleksandra Krunić	7–6^(7–4), 6–4
Mixed doubles	Olivia Gadecki John Peers	Kristina Mladenovic Manuel Guinard	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]

Records

The Australian Open allowed professional players to compete in 1969. This was one year before the other big tournaments, called the Grand Slam.

Record	Era	Player(s)	Count	Years
Men since 1905
Most singles titles	Open Era	Novak Djokovic	10	2008, 2011–2013, 2015–2016, 2019–2021, 2023
Most singles titles	Amateur Era	Roy Emerson	6	1961, 1963–1967
Most consecutive singles titles	Open Era	Novak Djokovic	3	2011–2013, 2019–2021
Most consecutive singles titles	Amateur Era	Roy Emerson	5	1963–1967
Most doubles titles	Open Era	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6	2006–2007, 2009–2011, 2013
Most doubles titles	Amateur Era	Adrian Quist	10	1936–1940, 1946–1950
Most consecutive doubles titles	Open Era	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3	2009–2011
Most consecutive doubles titles	Amateur Era	Adrian Quist	10	1936–1940, 1946–1950
Most mixed doubles titles	Open Era	Jim Pugh Leander Paes Daniel Nestor	3	1988–1990 2003, 2010, 2015 2007, 2011, 2014
Most mixed doubles titles	Amateur Era	Harry Hopman Colin Long	4	1930, 1936–1937, 1939 1940, 1946–1948
Most Championships (singles, doubles, mixed doubles)	Open Era	Novak Djokovic	10	2008–2023 (10 men's singles)
Most Championships (singles, doubles, mixed doubles)	Amateur Era	Adrian Quist	13	1936–1950 (3 singles, 10 men's doubles, 0 mixed doubles)
Women since 1922
Most singles titles	All-time	Margaret Court	11	1960–1966, 1969–1971, 1973
	Open Era	Serena Williams	7	2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017
	Amateur Era	Margaret Court	7	1960–1966
Most consecutive singles titles	Open Era	Margaret Court Evonne Goolagong Cawley Steffi Graf / Monica Seles Martina Hingis	3	1969–1971 1974–1976 1988–1990 1991–1993 1997–1999
Most consecutive singles titles	Amateur Era	Margaret Court	7	1960–1966
Most doubles titles	Amateur Era	Thelma Coyne Long	12	1936–1940, 1947–1949, 1951–1952, 1956, 1958
Most doubles titles	Open Era	Martina Navratilova	8	1980, 1982–1985, 1987–1989
Most consecutive doubles titles	Open Era	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	7	1982–1985, 1987–1989
Most consecutive doubles titles	Amateur Era	Thelma Coyne Long Nancye Wynne Bolton	5	1936–1940
Most mixed doubles titles	Open Era	Barbora Krejčíková	3	2019–2021
Most mixed doubles titles	Amateur Era	Daphne Akhurst Cozens Nell Hall Hopman Nancye Wynne Bolton Thelma Coyne Long	4	1924–1925, 1928–1929 1930, 1936–1937, 1939 1940, 1946–1948 1951–1952, 1954–1955
Most Championships (singles, doubles, mixed doubles)	All-time	Margaret Court	23	1960–1973 (11 singles, 8 women's doubles, 4 mixed doubles)
	Open Era	Martina Navratilova	12	1980–2003 (3 singles, 8 women's doubles, 1 mixed doubles)
	Amateur Era	Nancye Wynne Bolton	20	1936–1952 (6 singles, 10 women's doubles, 4 mixed doubles)
Wheelchair: singles since 2002, doubles since 2004, quads since 2008
Most singles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	11	2007–2011, 2013–2015, 2018, 2020, 2022
	Women	Esther Vergeer	9	2002–2004, 2006–2009, 2011–2012
	Quads	Dylan Alcott	7	2015–2021
Most consecutive singles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	5	2007–2011
	Women	Esther Vergeer Diede de Groot	4	2006–2009 2021–2024
	Quads	Dylan Alcott	7	2015–2021
Most doubles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	8	2007–2011, 2013–2015
	Women	Esther Vergeer Aniek van Koot	7	2003–2004, 2006–2009, 2011–2012 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2021–2023
	Quads	David Wagner	9	2008–2010, 2013–2017, 2022
Most consecutive doubles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	5	2007–2011
	Women	Esther Vergeer Diede de Groot	4	2006–2009 2021–2024
	Quads	David Wagner	5	2013–2017
Miscellaneous
Unseeded champions	Men	Mark Edmondson	1976
Unseeded champions	Women	Chris O'Neil Serena Williams	1978 2007
Youngest singles champion	Men	Ken Rosewall	18 years and 2 months (1953)
Youngest singles champion	Women	Martina Hingis	16 years and 4 months (1997)
Oldest singles champion	Men	Ken Rosewall	37 years and 2 months (1972)
Oldest singles champion	Women	Thelma Coyne Long	35 years and 8 months (1954)

Media coverage and attendance

From 1973 to 2018, the Seven Network showed the Australian Open on TV. In March 2018, it was announced that the Nine Network would start showing the tournament in 2020 for five years. They also showed the 2019 tournament. The rights to show the Australian Open are very valuable because it happens near the end of the Summer non-ratings season.

As of 2022, Nine has kept the rights to show the Australian Open until 2029. In Europe, viewers can watch it on Eurosport. Other places have their own broadcasters too.

The Australian Open has many fans. In 2025, a new record was set with many people attending. The most people to watch on one day was on January 17, 2025.