Australian Open

With the end of the week, one of the tournaments also ended with quite a good note. Record were made and previous ones were broken. One of the Grand Slams i.i. Australian Open came to en end and the winners were quite guessable. The only surprise is the women’s single winner who has won the grand slam for the first time. Let us have a look at the grand slam winners.

Facts about Australian Open:

• The tournament was first introduced in 1905, although it was originally known as the Australian Championships. It didn’t take on its new name, the Australian Open, until 1969.
• From 1988 onwards, the tournament made its first change by introducing hard courts instead of grass ones.
• The tournament is now played in Melbourne and has been since 1972, although previously it was played in a number of different Australian cities.
• The Australian Open has the distinction of actually being played in a completely different country, as the 1906 and 1912 tournaments were played in New Zealand.
• Amazingly the youngest and oldest ever winner of the men’s Australian Open is the same person, Ken Rosewall. He won the tournament at the age of 18 in 1953 and also at the age of 37 in 1972.
• The youngest women’s winner of the Australian Open is Martina Hingis who became champion in 1997 at the tender age of 16.
• Prior to the open era being introduced in 1969 (a year later than the other 3 Grand Slams), Roy Emerson won the tournament a record 6 times. Since the inception of the open era, which is when the tournament was opened to professionals, three players, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, have all won the tournament 4 times.
• Margaret Court has won the tournament a total of 11 times, but only 4 times since the open era. Serena Williams can boast 5 titles since the open era began.