by Angely Martinez

Created on: July 06, 2008

The Australian Open is one of four Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments held each year. They were first held in 1905, although at the time they were called the Australasian Championships. In 1927 the tournament was renamed the Australian Championships. It was renamed yet again in 1969, this time the name changed to the current Australian Open.

When the tournament first began, it was held at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in St Kilda Road, Melbourne. This was the city that the tournament returned to eventually. It was organised by the former Lawn Tennis Association of Australia. It has since been renamed to Tennis Australia.

The Australian Open took a brief break during World War I.Shortly after, the women's singles tournament was added in 1922.

For the first half century the tournament was held,the Championships toured Australia, visiting various states over the years.

The sixties were a golden age for Australian tennis with Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Margaret Smith winning sixteen of a possible twenty men's and women's titles between them. Margaret Smith (later Court) went on to win eleven Australian titles in all.

In 1972, it was decided to stage the Tournament in the one city each year, as opposed to visiting various states across the nation. For this occasion, the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club was selected due to Melbourne attracting the biggest patronage. Shortly thereafter, the authorities decided that the Australian Open deserved a settled home, so the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club became the home of the Australian Open for the next sixteen years.

Traditionally, the tournament had been held in January. In 1977 however, it was moved to December, which resulted in two tournaments that same year. This continued until 1987 when when the event moved back to January, meaning that there was no tournament in 1986.

In the 1980's the tournament had outgrown the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club,so the Australian government constructed the multi-purpose Flinders Park, which first hosted the Open in 1988.

In the 1980's the event had outgrown Kooyong and so the government constructed the multi-purpose Flinders Park, which first hosted the Open in 1988. The eighties saw European dominance in the men's event from Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg. The ladies' game saw thrilling clashes between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert who won three and two titles each respectively.

In 1996 the venue was expanded and renamed Melbourne Park. Since the early nineties, the balance of power in the men's competition has moved to America, with seven titles from shared between Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Americans continued to take many of the ladies' titles, with Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and most recently Jennifer Capriati lifting the trophy. In 2000 the centre court was christened The Rod Laver Arena in honour of Australia's tennis hero.

The Australian Open is perhaps the most adaptive of the Grand Slams, and as it enters its second century there are sure to be many new additions and memories created at one of the world's most special sporting events.

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