Benard Tomic will be one of the players representing Australia this year.
Monday sees the start of the main event in Australia – the Australian Tennis Open. The build up has been happening over the last few weeks with the qualifiers deciding who is in and who is out. So let’s take a look at the history of the sport and what’s happening in 2010.
The Australian Open stretches back to 1905 when it was known as the Australasian Championships in Melbourne. Although Melbourne has not been the only Australian city to stage the Open, it has been held in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Christchurch and Hastings before it was decided that Melbourne would stage it permanently each year as it attracted the biggest crowds. At first it only really catered for local Australian players due to the difficulty faced by any European player to get to Australia. Even for local players the trek across Australia proved a challenging one and when it was held in Christchurch in 1906 only ten players were competing – only two Australian. The competition then was won by a New Zealander.
Melbourne is by no means a permanent venue for the Open, just recently New South Wales proposed a bid to hold the Open on Glebe Island in Sydney once Melbourne’s contract expires in 2016. However millions of dollars have been ploughed into redevelopment of the Melbourne Park so for now at least, their contract looks safe.
The dates have also varied, being played in December, August and March. In 1987 it was finally decided to hold the tournament in January and since then the date has not changed, although date changes have been called for, the reason being that it has been deemed to be too soon after Christmas when players say they are not on their best form.
The Open is just the first of four Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments, the other three are due to be held in France in May/June; Wimbledon in June/July and lastly the US in August/September. The winner of the Women’s Singles will be presented with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup whilst the champion of the Men’s will receive the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
The current overall champions are Rafael Nadal for the Men’s Singles; Serena Williams for the Women’s Singles;  Bob and Mike Bryan will be defending the Men’s doubles and Serena and Venus Williams will be defending their title for the Women’s Doubles. Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi will both be defending the Mixed Doubles.
Last year’s winners will be facing challenges from Australian player Peter Luczak who will be taking on Rafael Nadal in the first round whilst Roger Federer – 15 time Grand Slam winner – will be opening against Russian Igor Andreev.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams will open the play against Urszula Radwanska whilst Australian’s Sam Stosur will face a qualifier with Ana Ivanovic. If all goes well, Stosur could be facing Serena Williams in the fourth round.
Australian Bernard Tomic last year became the youngest male player to win a main draw match at the Australian Open. This year he faces either Marin Cilic or Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
The games to watch would be a possible match between Russian Nikolav Davydenko in the quarter-finals and Roger Federer. Davydenko is an amazing talent who has already beaten Federer twice in their last two meetings. Also Juan Martin Del Potro, winner of the US Open last year could be playing against the flamboyant American James Blake – worth watching for entertainment value. Australian favourite Jelena Dokic who thrilled crowds last year with her performance in the quarter-finals will be up against Alisa Kleybanova in the opening round.
Whatever the results, the contenders list will ensure that audiences are not left disappointed in 2010. Be prepared for plenty of surprises, controversy and speculation – after all, it wouldn’t be the Australian Open without it!
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