ja n ua ry 2014 Q A N TA S 69

PHO

TOG

RA

PHY

: GeT

TY im

AG

es

These days the venue and the event are as much celebrities as the players. But it wasn’t always so. Linda Pearce charts the rise and

rise of that once poor grand slam relation, the australian Open.

open seasonopen seasonopen seasonopen seasonopen season

Serena Williams has won the Australian Open women’s singles crown five times since 2003

ja n ua ry 2014 Q A N TA S 7 1

The wealthy private club in Hawthorn, in the heart of Melbourne’s leafy east, hosted the modest version of one of the world’s four grand slam tournaments from 1972 until its move in 1988, a few significant kilometres along the Monash Freeway to the purpose-built Flinders Park – later renamed Melbourne Park.

attendance figures immediately rose by 90 per cent to 266,436 at the spacious new venue that year, as Cash fell to another Swede, Mats Wilander, in a second thrilling final. While the fact that just six of the men’s top 20 entered is an unthinkable statistic in the current everyone-comes competition climate, history also shows that as traditional grass made way for hardcourt, the seeds of a remarkable success story were sown.

What is chronologically the first of the year’s four major tennis events – followed by the French Open, Wimbledon and the uS Open – has since sprouted wildly in both size and prestige, with former champion (1960, 1962, 1969) rod Laver among those left to shake

their heads at an annual attendance that now pushes 700,000. “That is amazing when you think of where it was 20-odd years ago,” says the australian tennis legend, the only player to complete the grand slam twice (winning all four tournaments in 1962 and 1969).

It is also one of the few sports events in australia with a truly global reach and profile, broadcast in more than 200 countries to an inter-national television audience in the hundreds of millions. Closer to home, the Open now injects an estimated $238m a year into the state’s economy, filling planes, hotel rooms, shops and restaurants, and adding a buzz to summer in the city.

“I’ve only ever known it since it’s been at Melbourne Park when I used to go and watch,” says australia’s former world no.1 Lleyton Hewitt, who visited from adelaide each january as a schoolboy. “all the grand slams have grown over the years. With the roof, Melbourne Park was fantastic – and now it’s getting better and better each year. From what I hear, it’s very fan-friendly, which is the big thing.”

The event that installed the first retractable roof in grand slam tennis will, by 2015, have three. a new $40m TV rights deal has been negotiated with Seven West Media, and prize money has ballooned to a record $33m, with an expected boost to $40m by 2016. Indeed, given the shortage of local contenders on the court, it could be argued the Open is that rarest of things: an australian tennis winner.

Hewitt, 32, was the most recent home-grown finalist, in 2005, while 2011 uS Open champion Samantha Stosur’s repeated struggles to replicate her best overseas form in the unrelenting antipodean spotlight have been almost painful to watch. neither was born when Kooyong hosted the crownings of the last native australian champions: Mark Edmondson (1976) and Chris O’neil (1978).

There is some promising talent leading the next generation, as teenagers ashleigh Barty from Queensland, Canberran nick Kyrgios and several other decorated juniors begin the difficult tran-sition to the senior game. However, they’re not quite ready to make major inroads. In the meantime, expect another international raid on the silverware in 2014, as novak Djokovic of Serbia attempts to claim a fifth (fourth consecutive)

Linda Pearce is chief tennis writer for The Age, Melbourne. Australian Open, Melbourne Park, Jan 13-26. ausopen.com

Walking into Kooyong’s now-dated, weathered centre court, 27 years after the great Swede Stefan Edberg closed the previous australian Open tennis era

with a five-set win over hometown warrior Pat Cash, it is difficult to reconcile the tournament’s modest former identity with its big, bold, shiny current self.

sTA

diu

m P

HO

TOG

RA

PHY

: ben

sO

lOm

On

; AzA

Ren

kA/n

Ad

Al/

fed

eReR

: GeT

TY im

AG

es

Champions all (from left): Victoria Azarenka, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer

Melbourne Park Tennis Centre, home of the Australian Open

For airfares and holiday packages to Melbourne call Qantas Holidays on 1300 735 542 or visit qantas.com/holidaysaustralianway

TeNNiS MELBOurnE

norman Brookes Challenge Cup, and resurgent Spaniard rafael nadal reappears for the first time since his brave defeat in the epic 2012 decider against Djokovic.

While Switzerland’s four-time champion roger Federer appears – sadly, for his many fans clinging to hope of one last great rally – to be in decline, three-time finalist andy Murray returns from minor back surgery as the reigning Wimbledon champion. The Scot’s momentous midyear achievement at the all England Club ended a British dry spell that had stretched since Fred Perry won in 1936. In the modern era, through australian Open women’s titleholder Victoria azarenka, even the once-barren Belarus now boasts a major singles champion. Still, the favourite for the Daphne akhurst Memorial Cup will again be american superstar Serena Williams, the 17-time major winner who has prevailed five times in australia.

Or, specifically, at Melbourne Park, which is a long way from Kooyong in all but geography. Having been transformed from grand slam poor relation to much-loved sibling, and as its home undergoes a $366m redevelopment, the australian Open’s future is bright.