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Australian Open
The tournament began in 1905, when The Australasian Tennis Championships were first staged at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. It was organized by The Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, which is known today as Tennis Australia. -
Australian Open
Until tennis' "Open" era began in 1968, the Australian Championships were held in many different states, and at many different venues around Australia. -
Australian Open
With the ushering in of Open tennis, the name was changed to the Australian Open, and by 1972, the National Tennis Body decided to give the Australian Open a permanent home. That home was Melbourne,The Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club was chosen as the venue, where the tournament was held on grass courts for the next sixteen years. -
Australian Open
Up until 1977 , the Australian Open was held in January . That year the tournament was shifted to December , which meant that there were two Australian Opens in the same calendar year. -
Australian Open
A December tournament remained the case until 1987, when the event was, once again, played in January. This meant that in 1986, there was no tournament. During the eighties, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg were the dominant players in the mens, and Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert were at the forefront in the women's.Also during the eighties, it became more and more evident that the tournament's rapidly growing stature would require a new venue. Flinders Park, which sported a