WTA Jan 19-Feb 1: Australian Open Australian Open, Melbourne, AUS Grand Slam website map - event stats 128 players - outdoor: hard plexicushion $22,000,000 AUS, 50%/50% WTA/ATP matches: Live Scores - OOP - results draws: WTA, .pdf - mixed doubles women's: qualif. - singles - doub men's: qualif. - singles - doub pics: Y!: sports - news     tourney - WTA AusOpen radio live: AO player Radio Australia live: on Real - on WMP post-match interviews 2009 WTA video & audio interviews US TV is on ESPN2 - Australia news Melbourne: radar - forecast     venue - city map - local transit # J Jankovic, # S Williams # D Safina, # E Dementieva # A Ivanovic, # V Williams

Aussie Open tourney pages: 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Melbourne 2008: #5 Maria Sharapova 6' 2" 130lb RH 2H-BH Melbourne 2008: #4 Ana Ivanovic 6' 1" 152lb RH 2H-BH Melbourne 2008: 3rd Grand Slam Title 17th WTA Singles Title

The Australian Open draws are not yet available as of this writing. In 2008, the women's qualifying draw was posted on Wednesday, and the main draw took place at 10am Melbourne time on Friday. The links are above for your convenience when the draws become available.     The news.quickfound.net Australia page carries a 155-year-old New York Times article with a fairly detailed description of Melbourne in 1853.

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Melbourne 2008:     On Saturday in Melbourne, in the final of the 2007 Australian Open, the 2006 finalist, 20 year old 5th-seeded # 5 Maria Sharapova of Russia (with residences in California & Bradenton, Florida, home of the Bollettieri Academy) defeated 20 year old 4th-seeded # 4 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia (residence: Basel, Switzerland), 7-5, 6-3 (photos shown).

    Maria did not lose a set in the seven matches she won to take the title, and lost only two points on her serve in the 2nd set of the final. But, Maria said: "I don't think today was my best serving performance of the [tournament]. I think I served better against Lindsay [former # 1 Davenport] and Justine [current # 1 Henin]... But I did the things I needed to do in order to win the match. Whatever way I did it, at the end of the day, I won it...
    "On one of the service games [in the 1st set] I forced the issue a little bit. We got new balls and I was hitting with the wind, and I think I just went for a little too much on my second serves.
    "But I was also two points away from losing that first set and I served my way out of it. [Ana] got a little bit tight and also nervous because, I think, I was the one that was very close to losing that set. But I was just steady. I made her hit another ball, and it slipped away from her." postmatch interview

    Unlike her previous Grand Slam final, last year at Roland Garros, where she was crushed, killed and destroyed by Justine Henin (6-1, 6-2), Ana was never out of the match. Ana said: "It was definitely a better experience. I won more games. It's a little bit disappointing because I thought I had a lot of chances in that first set but didn't use them. But it's a learning experience for me. I fought hard. I just felt a little bit let down with my forehand, made some big mistakes in crucial moments. So that wasn't something I was hoping for. But [Maria] played well and she had a great tournament...

    "I managed to hold my nerves really well out there today. I was serving quite well, and on some occasions I would a little bit drop. But she's a tough opponent and she saw when I had troubles with my serve or with my forehand and she used that well.
    "I think she played well. She was a little bit nervous, I would say. She had also chances in the beginning of the first set. She was a break up, and then I broke her back. I still had some chances on my own, and she still fought hard and played some good tennis and managed to win that first set, and I'm sure that gave her confidence." postmatch interview

    Maria put only 54% of her 1st serves in the box, but she won 89% of her 1st serve points--and 70% of her 2nd serve points (Ana: 60%, 62%, 50%).
    Maria hit 16 winners (1 ace) with 15 unforced errors (3 DFs); Ana struck 14 winners (3 aces) but had 33 errors (4 DFs).
    Maria, who won 43% of her receiving points, converted 4 of 9 break points; Ana, who won only 20% of her receiving points, converted 1 of 2 break points.
    Maria scored on 8 of 10 trips to the net; Ana on 7 of 12.
    Maria's service success recently has been the result of excellent placement more than very high speeds: she averaged 104mph (fastest: 115mph) on 1st serves and 90mph on 2nd serves. Ana averaged 107mph (fastest: 116mph) on 1st serves and 93mph on 2nd serves.
match stats - BBC game by game

    Ana will move up to # 2 in the WTA singles rankings on Monday, the highest rank of her career. Maria, because she reached last year's Aussie Open final, did not gain as many ranking points as Ana, and will remain at # 5 next week.
    Maria now leads Ana 3-2 in career matches, however, one of Ana's wins came when Maria retired from their semifinal match in Tokyo last year due to her shoulder problems. In the Linz quarters in 2006 Maria defeated Ana 7-6(3), 7-5; in the French Open semis in 2007 Ana defeated Maria 6-2, 6-1; and in their last meeting, on an indoor carpet at the WTA Championships; Maria defeated Ana 6-1, 6-2.

    2004 Wimbledon and 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova is now 17-7 in WTA singles finals, and 3-1 in Grand Slam tourney finals, the loss was to Serena Williams in last year's Aussie Open final. Maria had some serious problems with her right shoulder in 2006 and 2007, but Maria now appears to be 100% healthy, and her game is at peak level.
Maria Sharapova career record - Maria Sharapova Wallpaper

    2007 French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic is now 5-3 in WTA singles finals, and 0-2 in Grand Slam tourney finals, the other Grand Slam loss coming to Justine Henin last year at Roland Garros, where Justine owns the beach.
Ana Ivanovic career record

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Major Skirmishes, Top Half     italics = advanced by upset 4th Round: # 1 Justine Henin d # 158 Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2, 6-2 # 3 Jelena Jankovic d # 85 Casey Dellacqua 7-6(3, 6-1 # 5 Maria Sharapova d # 11 Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0 # 7 Serena Williams d # 12 Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 6-4 Quarterfinals: # 5 Maria Sharapova d # 1 Justine Henin 6-4, 6-0 # 3 Jelena Jankovic d # 7 Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4 Semifinal: # 5 Maria Sharapova d # 3 Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1

Major Skirmishes, Bottom Half     italics = advanced by upset 4th Round: # 4 Ana Ivanovic d # 62 Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 7-6(2) # 8 Venus Williams d #145 Marta Domachowska 6-4, 6-4 # 9 Daniela Hantuchova d # 27 Maria Kirilenko 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 # 29 Agnieszka Radwanska d # 14 Nadia Petrova 1-6, 7-5, 6-0 Quarterfinals: # 4 Ana Ivanovic d # 8 Venus Williams 7-6(3), 6-4 # 9 Daniela Hantuchova d # 29 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-2 Semifinal: # 4 Ana Ivanovic d # 9 Daniela Hantuchova 0-6, 6-3, 6-4

Australian Open player's blog by Ana Ivanovic

Men's final: s3 Novak Djokovic SRB d Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(2)

    The prize money page on the ausopen.org website disappeared in 2005. The continuing fall of the US dollar has resulted in a substantial loss of income for tourneys outside the US, because TV and sponsorship contracts pay the tourneys in US dollars. In 2005, Aussie Open profits were said to have dropped about 25% in recent years due to the falling dollar.

    However, the Aussie Open is paying good prize money, and should publish the amounts. Their website does say that 2008 prize money will total $20.6 million in Australian dollars (said to be an 18% increase over 2007 in US dollars), and that the singles champions will win $1.37 million (AUS) each. At the Jan 11, 2008 conversion rate, this is $1,220,259 US.

    Except for the singles champs, 2007 prize money amounts are listed in the results table below, obtained from a .pdf document published at the ITF website. The conversions to US dollars (including the 2007 amounts) have been revised to the Jan 11, 2008 exchange rate: $1 AUS = $.8907 US.

2007 Doubles prize money, per team, AUS$:
Champions $446,020; Finalists $223,010; SFs $110,800; QFs $55,400; 3rd Round $31,245; 2nd Round $17,035; 1st Round $9,585

Melbourne 2007: unseeded # 94 Serena Willams USA d # 2 s1 Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2

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WTA SCOREBOARD: The Australian Open at Melbourne s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Australian Open,  Melbourne, Australia   tourney time:        = GMT +11 hours        = US EDT +16 hours        = US PDT +19 hours Australia News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     The Australian Open has 32 seeds, with no 1st-round byes.     There are 12 qualifiers and 8 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Saturday.   Melbourne Park   click for broader view venue: guide - maps Latitude: -37.821497 Longitude: 144.978772 goto link for World Wind 2008: Last year's Australian Open finalist Maria Sharapova & champ Serena Williams practiced in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday, and met the press on Saturday... Indian # 1 Sania Mirza was also photograped practicing on Saturday... bottom:   On Sunday, players who found time for final preparations included # 1 Justine Henin, Aussie favorite Alicia Molik, and last year's French Open finalist, Ana Ivanovic...

Australian Open, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue 11am loser: (2007) $19,215 AUS = $17,114 US, 5 points entry list as of Dec 10 from Jiro's Tennis Page and Tennis Forum seeds will be based on January 12 rankings # Jelena Jankovic SRB # Serena Williams USA # Dinara Safina RUS # Elena Dementieva RUS # Ana Ivanovic SRB # Venus Williams USA # Vera Zvonareva RUS # Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS # Maria Sharapova RUS # Agnieszka Radwanska POL # Nadia Petrova RUS # Caroline Wozniacki DEN # Flavia Pennetta ITA # Patty Schnyder SUI # Victoria Azarenka BLR # Alize Cornet FRA # Marion Bartoli FRA # Anna Chakvetadze RUS # Dominika Cibulkova SVK # Katarina Srebotnik SLO # Daniela Hantuchova SVK # Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP # Na Li CHN # Amelie Mauresmo FRA # Jie Zheng CHN # Sybille Bammer AUT # Kaia Kanepi EST # Agnes Szavay HUN # Maria Kirilenko RUS # Francesca Schiavone ITA # Ai Sugiyama JPN # Alisa Kleybanova RUS if there are no changes in the rankings, and no withdrawals, the 32 players above will be the 32 seeds,     and the players below will be unseeded # Alona Bondarenko UKR # Aleksandra Wozniak CAN # sr35 Mara Santangelo ITA # Sorana Cirstea ROU # Tamarine Tanasugarn THA # Shahar Peer ISR # Shuai Peng CHN # Nicole Vaidisova CZE # Sara Errani ITA # Iveta Benesova CZE # Petra Kvitova CZE # Tsvetana Pironkova BUL # Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS # Ekaterina Makarova RUS # Olga Govortsova BLR # Monica Niculescu ROU # Carla Suarez Navarro ESP # Gisela Dulko ARG # Samantha Stosur AUS # Casey Dellacqua AUS # Timea Bacsinszky SUI # Tathiana Garbin ITA # Sofia Arvidsson SWE # Magdalena Rybarikova SVK # Sabine Lisicki GER # Virginie Razzano FRA # Marina Erakovic NZL # Anne Keothavong GBR # sr61 Meghann Shaughnessy USA # Pauline Parmentier FRA # Kateryna Bondarenko UKR # Lucie Safarova CZE # Jill Craybas USA # Marta Domachowska POL # Mariya Koryttseva UKR # Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP # Nathalie Dechy FRA # Alla Kudryavtseva RUS # Tamira Paszek AUT # Klara Zakopalova CZE # Yanina Wickmayer BEL # Yung-Jan Chan TPE # Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE # Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER # Aravane Rezai FRA # Edina Gallovits ROU # Elena Vesnina RUS # Karin Knapp ITA # Akgul Amanmuradova UZB # Su-Wei Hsieh TPE # Petra Cetkovska CZE # Roberta Vinci ITA # Mathilde Johansson FRA # sr86 Ayumi Morita JPN # Camille Pin FRA # Kristina Barrois GER # Vera Dushevina RUS # Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP # Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ # Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP # Galina Voskoboeva KAZ # sr94 Tatjana Malek GER # Rossana De Los Rios PAR # Severine Bremond FRA # Julie Coin FRA # sr97 Andrea Petkovic GER # Anastasia Rodionova AUS/RUS # Jarmila Gajdosova AUS/SVK # Angelique Kerber GER # Sania Mirza IND # Yvonne Meusburger AUT # Anastasiya Yakimova RUS # Maria Elena Camerin ITA # Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA # Melinda Czink HUN # wc Jelena Dokic AUS won wild card playoff + 7 more wild cards and 12 qualifiers Alternate 2 ESP RUANO PASCUAL, VIRGINIA 107 3 GER GOERGES, JULIA 108 4 COL DUQUE MARINO, MARIANA 109 5 GBR SOUTH, MELANIE 110 6 BEL FLIPKENS, KIRSTEN 111 7 AUT MAYR, PATRICIA 112 8 RUS BYCHKOVA, EKATERINA 113 9 USA DITTY, JULIE 114 10 CZE HRADECKA, LUCIE 115 11 CRO KOSTANIC TOSIC, JELENA 116 12 FRA FORETZ, STEPHANIE 117 13 UKR SAVCHUK, OLGA 118 14 EST ANI, MARET 119 15 RUS LAPUSHCHENKOVA, ANNA 120 16 USA LEPCHENKO, VARVARA 121 17 CAN DUBOIS, STEPHANIE 122 18 ROU OLARU, IOANA RALUCA 123 19 SLO KLEPAC, ANDREJA 124 205 CHN YAN, ZI 125 21 CHN YUAN, MENG 126 22 USA KING, VANIA 127 23 RUS RODINA, EVGENIYA 128 24 POR LARCHER DE BRITO, MICHELLE C 129 25 GER SCHRUFF, JULIA 130 26 SUI VOEGELE, STEFANIE 133 27 RUS MANASIEVA, VESNA 134 28 GBR BALTACHA, ELENA 135 29 SLO ZEC PESKIRIC, MASA 136 30 FRA LOIT, EMILIE 137 Qualifying List 1 FRA COHEN-ALORO, STEPHANIE 105 2 HUN CZINK, MELINDA 106 3 ESP RUANO PASCUAL, VIRGINIA 107 4 GER GOERGES, JULIA 108 5 COL DUQUE MARINO, MARIANA 109 6 GBR SOUTH, MELANIE 110 7 BEL FLIPKENS, KIRSTEN 111 8 AUT MAYR, PATRICIA 112 9 RUS BYCHKOVA, EKATERINA 113 10 USA DITTY, JULIE 114 11 CZE HRADECKA, LUCIE 115 12 CRO KOSTANIC TOSIC, JELENA 116 13 FRA FORETZ, STEPHANIE 117 14 UKR SAVCHUK, OLGA 118 15 EST ANI, MARET 119 16 RUS LAPUSHCHENKOVA, ANNA 120 17 USA LEPCHENKO, VARVARA 121 18 CAN DUBOIS, STEPHANIE 122 19 ROU OLARU, IOANA RALUCA 123 20 SLO KLEPAC, ANDREJA 124 21 CHN YAN, ZI 125 22 CHN YUAN, MENG 126 23 USA KING, VANIA 127 24 RUS RODINA, EVGENIYA 128 25 POR LARCHER DE BRITO, MICHELLE C 129 26 GER SCHRUFF, JULIA 130 27 SUI VOEGELE, STEFANIE 133 28 RUS MANASIEVA, VESNA 124 29 GBR BALTACHA, ELENA 135 30 SLO ZEC PESKIRIC, MASA 136 31 FRA LOIT, EMILIE 1371 32 AUS MOORE, JESSICA J 138 33 UKR FEDAK, YULIANA 139 34 ARG JOZAMI, BETINA 140 35 BLR DZEHALEVICH, EKATERINA 141 36 ITA DENTONI, CORINNA 143 37 COL CASTANO, CATALINA 144 38 GRE DANIILIDOU, ELENI 145 39 POL RADWANSKA, URSZULA 146 40 JPN NAKAMURA, AIKO 147 41 CZE VORACOVA, RENATA 148 42 BUL KARATANTCHEVA, SESIL 149 43 FRA SANCHEZ, OLIVIA 150 44 UKR KUTUZOVA, VIKTORIYA 151 45 FUJIWARA, RIKA JPN 152 46 GLATCH, ALEXA USA 154 47 GULLICKSON, CARLY USA 155 48 IVANOVA, EKATERINA RUS 156 49 PERVAK, KSENIA RUS 157 50 KLOESEL, SANDRA GER 158 51 O'BRIEN, KATIE J GBR 159 52 TATISHVILI, ANNA GEO 160 53 PUCHKOVA, OLGA RUS 161 54 ARN, GRETA HUN 162 55 SILVA, NEUZA POR 163 56 YONEMURA, TOMOKO JPN 164 57 WOERLE, KATHRIN GER 165 58 LARSSON, JOHANNA J SWE 166 59 PANDZIC, JELENA CRO 167 60 RUUTEL, MARGIT EST 168 61 RUS, ARANTXA NED 170 62 POUTCHEK, TATIANA BLR 171 63 SCHEEPERS, CHANELLE RSA 173 64 BRIANTI, ALBERTA ITA 174 65 SPREM, KAROLINA CRO 175 SR 66 VIERIN, NATHALIE ITA 176 67 OBZILER, TZIPORA ISR 176 68 CABEZA CANDELA, ESTRELLA ESP 177 69 OUDIN, MELANIE J USA 178 70 DOKIC, JELENA AUS 179 71 JUGIC-SALKIC, MERVANA BIH 180 72 SCHAEFER, ANNE GER 181 73 CRAVERO, JORGELINA ARG 183 74 MULLER, MARTINA GER 184 75 ZAHLAVOVA, SANDRA CZE 185 76 BOVINA, ELENA RUS 186 77 ONDRASKOVA, ZUZANA CZE 187 78 DATE KRUMM, KIMIKO JPN 188 79 LYUBTSOVA, OXANA UKR 189 80 CHAN, CHIN-WEI TPE 190 81 SZATMARI, AGNES ROU 191 82 SFAR, SELIMA TUN 192 83 KUCOVA, ZUZANA SVK 193 84 PANOVA, ALEXANDRA RUS 194 85 WIENEROVA, LENKA SVK 195 86 PALKINA, KSENIA KGZ 196 87 SEVASTOVA, ANASTASIJA LAT 197 88 MAMIC, SANDA CRO 198 89 W 90 W 91 W 92 W 93 W 94 W 95 W 96 W Alternate 1 IND RAO, SUNITHA 199 2 USA ALBANESE, LAUREN R 200 3 CZE HRDINOVA, EVA 201 4 GER KLASCHKA, CARMEN V 202 5 NED KRAJICEK, MICHAELLA 204 6 CZE HLADIKOVA, TEREZA 205 7 VEN SEQUERA, MILAGROS 206 8 JPN IIJIMA, KUMIKO 207 9 POR PIEDADE, FREDERICA2089 10 RUS BRATCHIKOVA, NINA 209 11 HUN MAROSI, KATALIN 210 12 KOR LEE, YE-RA 211 13 USA STEVENSON, ALEXANDRA 212 14 UKR SAVRANSKA, YEVGENIA 213 15 CRO MARTIC, PETRA 214 16 CRO LISJAK, IVANA 215 SR 17 ESP SOLER ESPINOSA, SILVIA 215 18 GBR STOOP, GEORGIE 216 19 USA BRENGLE, MADISON L 218 20 GEO CHAKHNASHVILI, MARGALITA 219 21 SVK KUCOVA, KRISTINA 220 22 GRE GERASIMOU, ANNA 221 23 UKR LUZHANSKA, TETIANA 222 24 ROU UNGUR, LIANA G 223 25 LTU STANCIUTE, LINA 224 26 TPE CHANG, KAI-CHEN 225 27 CRO VRLJIC, ANA 27 226 28 JPN FUDA, RYOKO 227 SR 29 CZE HLAVACKOVA, ANDREA 227 30 SVK TVAROSKOVA, LENKA 228 31 USA COHEN, AUDRA M 230 32 AUS ADAMCZAK, MONIQUE 231 33 FRA FEDOSSOVA, YOULIA A 232 34 ROU BEGU, IRINA 233 35 CHN ZHANG, SHUAI 234 36 USA PERRY, SHENAY 237 37 RUS JIDKOVA, ALINA 239 38 NED EWIJK, CHAYENNE 240 39 GER GEHRLEIN, STEPHANIE N 242 40 USA SPEARS, ABIGAIL 243 41 GEO SHAPATAVA, SOFIA 245 42 ITA FLORIS, ANNA 246 43 JPN SEMA, YURIKA F 247 44 THA VIRATPRASERT, SUCHANUN 248 45 NED THYSSEN, NICOLE E 250 46 RUS KONDRATIEVA, MARIA 253 47 MRI GIRAUD, MARINNE 255 48 FRA PAVLOVIC, IRENA 257 49 RSA GRANDIN, NATALIE J 258 50 AUT KLAFFNER, MELANIE 260

Australian Open, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu 11am loser: (2007) $29,890 AUS = $26,623 US, US 100 points

Australian Open, 3rd Rd, Fri-Sat loser: (2007) $49,100 AUS = $43,733 US, 160 points

Australian Open, 4th Rd, Sun-Mon 11am loser: (2007) $80,060 AUS = $71,309 US, 280 points

Australian Open, QFs, Tue-Wed 11am loser: (2007) $160,125 AUS = $142,623 US, 500 points

Australian Open, SFs, Thu loser: (2007) $320,250 AUS = $285,247 US, 900 points

Australian Open, Final, Sat cRL 1:30pm loser: (2007) $640,500 AUS = $570,494 US, 1400 points winner: (2008) $1,370,000 AUS = $1,220,259 US, 2000 pts

Australian Open, Doubles Final, Friday cRL 3pm losers' prize: (2007) $223,010 AU = $198,635 US winners' prize: (2007) $446,020 AU = $397,270 US Australian Open, Mixed Doubles Final, Sun cRL 4pm 2005 prizes: losers: $51,348 US; winners: $102,697 US Australian Open, Girls Final, Sat cMCA noon Australian Open, Girls' Doubles Final, Fri c3 m3 Australian Open, Qualifying Finals, Sat Jan 12 10am losers' prizes: q1 $? 2pt; q2 $? 40pts; q3 $? 50pts; qualifier 60 points Australian Open, Withdrawals, Non-entries #35 (former #1) Lindsay Davenport USA 2nd child underway #39 Bethanie Mattek USA #90 Tatiana Perebiynis UKR illness #249 (former #12) Tatiana Golovin back pain & inflammation, did not enter In L'Equipe in November, Tatiana said: "As I haven’t played for almost one year, it is easy to say : 'Golovin is going to retire.' I can tell you now that it is not the case. I still have pain in my back, I don’t practice, but I am still totally hopeful to play again soon. It will be in a few weeks, months or even in one year, but my career is not over."

from Hard Courts by John Feinstein (pages 47-50):     Because of the travel involved, the Australian had always been number four on the Grand Slam ladder. But it had been a solid number four. In 1974 Jimmy Connors won his first Grand Slam Title there. That same year, Evonne Goolagong beat Chris Evert in the women's final. A year later, the finals were Newcombe over Connors, and Goolagong over Martina Navratilova.     But it was getting tougher and tougher to get the players to make the trip to Australia around the Christmas holidays, which was when the tournament was held. Guarantees were beginning to push player income so high that the top players saw no reason to make the trip. Bjorn Borg never played the Australian after 1974. Connors hasn't been back since 1975. Evert didn't go for six straight years after her loss to Goolagong, and Navratilova skipped four years after her loss to Goolagong.     The tournament deteriorated quickly. Kooyong, the venerable Melbourne tennis club where the tournament was held, was a badly outdated facility. It was overcrowded and the grass was not in good shape. In fact, many players complained that on one side of center court you were actually running uphill to get to the net.     In 1978 Chris O'Neil beat Betsy Nagelsen in the women's final. The next year Barbara Jordan beat Sharon Walsh. None of these four players ever came close to a Grand Slam final again...     Philippe Chatrier, the ITF president, was extremely concerned about what he saw in Australia. He had fallen in love with the country on his first trip there as a young sportswriter in 1956. Chatrier knew that the Australian had become a Grand Slam in name only. Brian Tobin, the president of Tennis Australia, knew that, too.     ...The women had upgraded their half of the tournament in the early eighties by splitting from the men. Chatrier and Tobin together convinced the Men's Tennis Council [the MTC, which controlled men's pro tennis before the ATP] to move the tournament to the last week in November. That helped a little. Then came the matter of talking the women into going back to the old two-week format.     "The women weren't too keen on that," Tobin said. "By 1980 the top women like Chrissie and Martina were coming here again and they were doing quite well on their own. But we knew to be a true Grand Slam again, we had to be a two-week tournament."     There were still major problems. Not only was Kooyong an awful facility for a major championship, it was costing Tennis Australia $1 million a year to rent. A new facility was desperately needed, but that would cost, according to estimates, $40 million. Tennis Australia just didn't have that kind of money.     ...Sitting at his desk one morning, Tobin saw a small story in the paper, which noted that the government of Victoria--the state in which Melbourne is located--was looking for a site to build a new entertainment center. Tobin called John Cain, the premier of Victoria, and asked for a meeting. Perhaps there was some way for the government and Tennis Australia to build a facility together.     Cain was interested but there was an obvious problem. Grand Slam tennis tournaments were played outdoors; most entertainment events were staged indoors. It was Cain who came up with the solution. "Why not build it with a roof that opens?" he suggested.     The rest, as they say, is history.     The land chosen to build the National Tennis Center was Flinders Park... only five minutes from the heart of Melbourne... ground was broken early in 1986. (The projected cost... was about $70 million. Before it was done, the cost was more than $100 million.)     ...They studied the other three Grand Slam facilities to try to figure out how to build the best possible venue... "We studied the U.S. Open site in order to see what not to do," Tobin said, laughing. They also proposed another date change to the MTC, asking that the tournament be moved to mid-January...     The MTC approved the calendar change. The last Australian Open at Kooyong was played in January 1987, and when the tennis world arrived in Melbourne the following January, it was clear that the Australian had arrived as a Grand Slam. The stadium seated fifteen thousand, with excellent sight lines everywhere. Most of the seats were in the shade, which helped even on the days when the heat was most unbearable. The women's final that year was completed with the roof closed, when it started to rain after the match had begun. The locker rooms were the roomiest in the world. The walkways were wide, and there were two ministadiums that served as courts 1 and 2. Chatrier called it "the tennis stadium of the twenty-first century."     With the new dates, everyone came to play. Steffi Graf started her Grand Slam by beating Chris Evert in the women's final... In 1990, Channel 7 would be on the air for about 120 hours during the two-week tournament.     Most of the country would be watching most of the time.

    (May 30, 2007) The Rebound Ace courts used since 1988 for the Australian Open and the events leading up to it will be replaced, beginning in 2008, by a less cushioned surface created by the US company Plexipave, called Plexicushion, which will be installed by Aussie company William Loud. WTA story

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2009 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to many postmatch interview & match highlight videos of WTA players at the 2008 WTA Player Videos page.

WTA PhotoRankings: the current top 20 Women's Tennis rankings with player photos, links, and bio info.