Australian Open is one of the most recognized and prestigious events in the sporting world, known for the biggest tennis stars to compete on its grounds for the tournament’s prestigious title and the notoriously praised Grand Slam trophy.
Both singles and doubles games are held across Melbourne’s coastline city, with tennis legends such as Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic being seen at the games year after year.
The Australian Open is the youngest out of the four Grand Slam tournaments taking place globally, having been established in 1905. It’s recognizable by the heat of the Australian weather in their summer month of January, and the infamous hard clay blue courts that are also used in the US open that takes place later on in the year.
What is the Australian Open?
The Australian Open is a Grand Slam competitive tennis tournament that takes place in mid-January each year. It is recognized as the first significant tennis event of every year and one of the world’s four Grand Slam tournaments.
Where Is It Held?
With the Australian coastline city of Melbourne being praised for being the country’s sports capital, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the tournament’s events are held there.
Melbourne Park is known to host the Australian Open’s opening games. Other games are also being held in arenas across the city, such as the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Arena, and the Margaret Court Arena. Throughout January, Melbourne not only becomes a star shine ground, with famous tennis players gathering in the city for the championships but also a tourist hotspot, with hundreds of thousands spectators arriving from all parts of the globe to witness the heated matches.
Where Can You Watch It?
If a plane ticket to Australia and an expensive arena seat to watch the January tournaments isn’t really on your budget list for the upcoming year, don’t worry – you can still watch the competitive matches through streaming services. Places such as https://www.jokerlivestream.net/joker-australian-open-live-stream-1.html, guarantee the option of being able to live stream tennis events as such, with the high-quality audio and visuals making you feel like you’re in Melbourne, watching the games as they happen.
Prizes
It should come as no surprise that players win big rewards at such a grand event that is the Australian Open. 2020 saw the highest prize money granted by the championship, with 71 million Australian dollars (approx. USD 54 million) being awarded to players throughout the competition.
As with any event, the further down the bracket one manages to reach, the higher their winnings in total. Even players who lose in the first qualifying games will take home a pretty hefty sum of A$20,000 each. Those players who manage to reach center court and play in the first stages of the main draw will be expected to take home around A$90,000 in prize money.
The tournament’s winner is expected to receive an amount around A$4,120,000, and the runner up will take home a half of this sum – A$2,065,000. However, those exact numbers aren’t guaranteed as they change every year. The sums we have presented are the most recent ones from 2020. They were also the highest recorded sums in the history of the Australian tennis event.
Heat Policy
Due to the hot Australian weather during the summer, combined with high humidity, the Australian Open tournaments had to implement a heat policy to ensure safe and comfortable playing conditions. For the safety of both the players and spectators, the heat rule was invoked in the quarterfinal round in 1997. It became a full new policy by the 1998 season. These new heat rules called for all games to be stopped if the temperature reaches 40 degrees Celcius, with it changing to 38 degrees Celcius in 2003.
The application of the heat policies has varied over the years, with new regulations being implemented and created, to adjust to what the committee deems to be the most realistic playing conditions for the players.
Former Winners
In the Australian Open history, the winner of most Men’s Singles titles was granted to Novak Djokovic, who has secured that title 8 times in total, with three consecutive wins between 2011 and 2013.
In the Women’s tournament that was initiated in 1922, Margaret Court is praised for securing 11 Grand Slam titles of the Australian tournaments in the women’s game. However, this is for the games that took place before 1969, held in a slightly different format. After the 1968 changes, the unbeatable Serena Williams scored the podium a total of 7 times, starting her winning streak in the early 2000s.
Conclusion
The Australian Open tournaments are considered to be some of the most prestigious tennis tournaments a player could ever qualify for. The hard work, determination, and a bit of luck all contribute towards a tennis player getting the opportunity to compete on an event of such a grand scale.
If you’re anything like us and are in desperate need of watching the Australian Open the upcoming season, make sure to find a live streaming service that will prevent you from missing any live games. All you’re going to be left with is decifding who you’re going to be rooting for!