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Six Australian state tennis associations and the governing body of the game in New Zealand join to form the Lawn Tennis Association of Australasia.
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The inaugural ‘Australasian Championships’ take place on the grass courts at Albert Reserve in Melbourne, on the lawns of the Warehouseman’s Cricket Club. Australian Rodney Heath wins the championship.
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The tournament officially changes it’s name from the 'Australian Championships' to the 'Australian Open'.
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The Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club becomes the adopted home of the Australian Open.
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The Australian Open is first broadcast by the Seven Network.
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The tournament changes location to Flinders Park (now called Melbourne Park). With a change of location came a change of court surface. The players now played on hard ‘Rebound Ace’ courts.
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American John McEnroe loses his cool and after three code violations for swearing towards the umpire and smashing rackets, he was disqualified from the tournament.
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Jim Courier overcame brutal heat and a hot Stefan Edberg to win back-to- back titles. To cool down, the American took a victory plunge in the silty (not to say filthy) Yarra River.
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Lleyton Hewitt falls shy of the Australian Open title losing to Russian Marat Safin in the grand final. He is the last Australian player to feature in a grand final to this day.
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Tennis Australia introduces the 'Hawk-Eye' system at Rod Laver Arena where players can challenge an umpire’s line call and have the system confirm or overrule that original call.
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Melbourne Park turns blue from a change of surface to 'Plexicushion'.
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The 2009 Australian Open was the hottest on record, recording an average daily maximum temperature of 34.7°C.
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A record 703, 899 fans walked through the gates of a revamped Melbourne Park over the two week tournament.
