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, known as the major tournaments. The Australian Open is the first of these four tournaments each year, happening before the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

This tournament usually starts in the middle of January and lasts for two weeks. It includes many different events, such as men's and women's singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and even 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. In fact, it is the most attended Grand Slam event, with over 1,360,000 people coming to the 2026 tournament. The tournament takes place at Melbourne Park and helps bring a lot of money to the local economy.

History

The Australian Open is managed by Tennis Australia, formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, and was first played at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in Melbourne in November 1905. The facility, now known as the Albert Reserve Tennis Centre, was a grass court.

The tournament was first known as the Australasian Championships. It became the Australian Championships in 1927. Then, in 1969, it became the Australian Open. Since 1905, it has been staged 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.

Although it began in 1905, the International Lawn Tennis Federation did not designate it a major championship until 1924. In the period of 1916–1918, no tournament was organised due to World War I.

During World War II, the tournament was not held from 1941 to 1945. In 1972, it was decided to stage the tournament in Melbourne each year because it attracted the biggest patronage of any Australian city. The tournament was played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club from 1972 until its move to the new Flinders Park complex in 1988.

The new facilities at Flinders Park were built to meet the demands of a tournament that had outgrown Kooyong's capacity. The move to Flinders Park was an immediate success, with a 90 percent increase in attendance in 1988 on the previous year at Kooyong.

Because of Australia's geographic remoteness, very few foreign players entered the tournament in the early 20th century. In the 1920s, the trip by ship from Europe to Australia took about 45 days. The first tennis players who came by aircraft were the US Davis Cup players in November 1946.

The first tournaments of the Australasian Championships suffered from the competition of the other Australasian tournaments. Before 1905, all Australian states, and New Zealand, had their own championships; the first being organised in 1880 in Melbourne and called the Championship of the Colony of Victoria. In those years, the best two players – Australian Norman Brookes and New Zealander Anthony Wilding – almost did not play this tournament.

Beginning in 1969, when the first Australian Open was held on the Milton Courts at Brisbane, the tournament was open to all players, including professionals who were not allowed to play the traditional circuit. Nevertheless, except for the 1969 and 1971 tournaments, many of the best players missed the championship until 1982, because of the remoteness, the inconvenient dates and the low prize money.

In 1983, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Mats Wilander entered the tournament. Wilander won the singles title. Following the 1983 Australian Open, the International Tennis Federation prompted the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia to change the site of the tournament, because the Kooyong stadium was then inappropriate to serve such a big event. In 1988 the tournament was first held at Flinders Park (later renamed Melbourne Park). The change of the venue also led to a change of the court surface from grass to a hard court surface known as Rebound Ace.

In 2008, after being used for 20 years, the Rebound Ace was replaced by a cushioned, medium-paced, acrylic surface known as Plexicushion Prestige. The main benefits of the new surface are better consistency and less retention of heat because of a thinner top layer.

From 1982 to 1985, the tournament was played in mid-December. Then it was decided to move the next tournament to mid-January (January 1987), which meant no tournament was organised in 1986. From 1987 to 2026, the Australian Open date has not changed (except for 2021, when it was postponed by three weeks to February due to the COVID-19 pandemic). In 2026, the tournament will be played in late January.

Notably a retractable roof was placed over Margaret Court Arena, making the Open the first of the four Grand Slams to have retractable roofs available on three of their main courts. The player and administrative facilities, as well as access points for spectators, were improved and the tournament site expanded its footprint out of Melbourne Park into nearby Birrarung Marr.

In December 2018, tournament organisers announced the Australian Open would follow the examples set by Wimbledon and the US Open and introduce tie-breaks in the final sets of men's and women's singles matches. Unlike Wimbledon and the US Open, which initiated conventional tie-breaks at 12–12 games and 6–6 games respectively, the Australian Open utilises a first to 10 points breaker at 6 games all. In 2020, the tournament organisers decided to replace the official court manufacturer to GreenSet.

In 2021, in an effort to reduce the number of staff on-site due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches used electronic line judging. It marked the first-ever Grand Slam tournament to exclusively use electronic line judging.

Starting in 2024, the Australian Open began on a Sunday, one day earlier than usual. Day sessions on Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena featured a minimum of two matches (down from three) in an effort to reduce the possibility of matches finishing in the early hours of the following morning.

The 2025 Australian Open was the first Australian Open 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, located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct. The event moved to this site in 1988. Three of the courts have special roofs that can be closed during rain or very hot weather. Spectators can watch matches on Show Courts 2 and 3, which can hold 3,000 people each, and on other courts with temporary seating.

Construction began in 2019 on a new stadium that can hold 5,000 people. This stadium, called Kia Arena, was shown to the public in November 2021. From 2008 to 2019, the courts used a special 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

Ranking points for men (ATP) and women (WTA) have changed over the years at the Australian Open. Today, players earn points like this:

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 for the tournament is A$111.5 million in Australian Dollars.

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 opened to professional players in 1969, a year earlier than the other three major tournaments known as 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. Later, 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, allowing the broadcaster to show their new shows.

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 is the tournament with the most people watching. In 2025, a new record was set with 1,218,831 people attending. The most people to watch on one day was 97,132, on January 17, 2025.