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Australian Open Tennis Championships

The Australian Tennis Championships originated in 1905 as the Australasian Championship, later becoming the Australian Championships (1927) and the Australian Open (1969). Before its concentration in Melbourne at the Kooyong Tennis Stadium from 1972 and then at Flinders Park (renamed Melbourne Park) from 1988, the event had been held variously in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and New Zealand, but most often in Melbourne. Because of the event's suspension during World War II, the 2005 centenary championship was the 93rd staged. From 1996 its participants, both men and women, were accorded equal ranking points with other Grand Slam events (French Open, Wimbledon and US Open). The Australian Open, for which the total prize money for 2004 was $A19 million, commonly draws 18 or more of the top 20 players in world tennis to Australia for each of the men's and women's events. In 2004 the Open was calculated to have had a gross economic impact of $A203.4 million on the Victorian economy, drew a total attendance of 521 691 spectators (57% from Melbourne, 7.4% from overseas, 20.4% from interstate), and reached 527 million homes in 182 territories throughout the world on television.

Graeme Kinross-Smith

References
Matthews, Bruce, Game, set and glory: A history of the Australian tennis championships, Five Mile Press, Melbourne, 1985. Details
Michie, Rosanne, Through the roof: Ten years of the Australian open and entertainment at Melbourne Park, Playright Publishing, Sydney, 1998. Details