Tennis Grand Slam

Australian Open Trivia

The women's tournament started in 1922, the men in 1905
the first men's singles winner was Rodney Heath, and the first women's singles winner was Mall Molesworth
In 1969 the tournament changed from an amateur to an Open Championship.
In 1977, when changing from a December event to a January event, two tournaments were held; the first in January, the second in December. In 1987, the tournament moved back to January, so no championship was decided in 1986.

Asia accounted for 60 per cent of Australian Open 2006 television coverage with more than 3,694 hours broadcast in the region during the fortnight.
Ai Yan and Jie Zheng became the first Chinese players to win a Grand Slam title when they won the women's doubles at Australian Open 2006.
The fastest serving man at Australian Open 2006 was Taylor Dent (231km/h) while Sam Stosur and Venus and Serena Williams shared the women's honours (194km/h).
Patrons consumed 37,247 buckets of hot chips, 37,305 BBQ sausages, 2,500kg of curry and 164,416 ice creams during Australian Open 2006.
Prize-money at Australian Open 2007 totals A$20-million
In 2007, the Hawkeye Line Calling System was first officially used for matches.
The 2007 tournament included 254 singles matches, 157 doubles matches, 126 junior singles matches, 62 junior doubles matches and 68 wheelchair matches.