Among the four major Grand Slam tennis tournaments, Australian Open has a prominet place. This tournament held in January every year at Melbourne park began in 1905 and was contested on grass through 1987. In 1988, the tournament got shifted to hard courts and is being held there since then. Like any other Grand Slam tournaments, Australian Open also has both men’s and women’s singles competitions; men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles; and junior’s and master’s competitions.

The two main courts, where the tourmanet is played are Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena and has retractable roofs,making it convenient to hold matches even in rain. Australian Open is held in the middle of every summer and invites heavy attendence from all around the world. The 2008 Australian Open holds the record of having highest ever day/night attendance for any Grand Slam tournament of 62,885.

The Rebound Ace surface, which had been in place for the past 20 years at Melbourne Park, was replaced in 1995 by a cushioned acrylic surface known as Plexicushion. The rcent Australian Open was held from 14 January through 27 January 2008 and , Novak Djokovic lifted the men’s title and Maria Sharapova the women’s title. Tennis Australia is the body that governs the tournament.

The Australian Open was earlier known as The Australasian Championships, until 1927 and got reanamed as Australian Championships. It was in 1969, it adopted the name Australia Open. Earlier five Australian cities including Sydney, Perth, Adlaide, Brisbane and Melboune had hosted the tournamnet, but from 1972, Melbourne became the permanent venue for the touranment.

In the primary days of the tournament, because of the vast distance from Europe and the US, the tourament ivited very few players. But with the change in time, the tournament started getting participants as well as viewers in large numbers. The tournament dates also used to get fluctuated in the early days due to the climate of each site or exceptional events. But since 1987 the Australian Open date has not changed.

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