Ben Siegel and Celeste Padula
The Australian Open is one of the four tennis tournaments that make up the Grand Slam, the others being the French Open, the US Open and Wimbledon. They are the biggest and most prestigious tournaments each year, but the Australian Open holds the record of the highest ever single-day night/day attendance. Australia has hosted a tennis tournament since 1880, and in 1969 the tournament was first called the Australian Open. It is the first Grand Slam tournament of each year, held in the middle of the Australian summer, on the last fortnight of the month of January.
The Australian open used to be played on grass until the year 1988, when they switched to hard ground courts. Mats Wilander is the only male player to have ever won on grass and hard courts. The two main courts used in the tournament have been named Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena.
Even with all the flooding that has happened in Australia recently, the tournament will still be held in an Australian city. Currently, 5 different Australian cities have ever held the Open and two New Zealand cities, despite the name, the ‘Australian’ Open.
This year, as in the past several years, American tennis fans have hoped that Andy Roddick, the top ranked American man, could win the tournament, even though there are many other good younger male players. There have been a lot of discussions and comments made by former top players about whether or not the American men can ever be the top ranked players again. A lot of pressure is always placed on Roddick.
Two big stars of the Australian Open are Federer and Nadal. Former American tennis star Andre Agassi said, “It is not brain surgery to realize how much they’ve (Federer and Nadal) dominated,” Agassi told NPR. “But what I am sort of suggesting across the board, globally speaking, is that tennis has gotten much more competitive.”
Agassi also stated that court surfaces are a reason that the American men are not able to keep up with some of the best players from around the world. Americans tend to play with a Clay court instead of Hard courts used in the Australian Open. Clay slow down the ball and produce a high bounce, taking away the advantage of big serves. Clay courts are cheaper than the other types of court like Hard and Grass. Learning how to play tennis on a Clay court is a disadvantage to Americans because out of the four Grand Slam tournaments, the French Open is the only to use Clay courts.
Andy Roddick, the last American man in the 2011 Australian Open Draw, lost in the fourth round to Stanislas Wawrinka. This is the first time since 1987 that there has not been an American man in the quarterfinals of the tournament. At the time of the loss, ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe said that, “He [Roddick] has been thoroughly dominated tonight.”
While there are always some upsets in every tennis tournament, most people predict that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will play each other in the final round for the championship. Nadal is ranked number 1 in the world. He has won the last 3 Grand Slams and is going for four, which would mean winning the Australian Open. The last person who won the four Grand Slams in a row was Rod Laver in 1969. It looks like Nadal could do it but the last time Nadal lost in a Grand Slam event was in the quarterfinal round in the 2010 Australian Open. Since Rod Laver, the Grand Slam record holder, has a stadium named after him, so a win by Nadal could give him one as well.
