Australian Open facts for kids

Two players on an outdoor court

The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The Australian Open starts in the middle of January and continues for two weeks coinciding with the Australia Day holiday. It features men's and women's singles; men's, women's and mixed doubles; junior's championships; and wheelchair, legends and exhibition events.

The Australian Open has been played on three different surfaces:

• Grass (1905–1987)
• Rebound Ace (a type of hard court, 1988–2007)
• Plexicushion (a faster type of hard court, (2008–present)

First held in 1905 as the Australasian championships, the Australian Open has grown to become one of the biggest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere. Nicknamed "the happy slam", the Australian Open is the highest attended Grand Slam event, with more than 1,100,000 people attending the 2024 tournament, including qualifying.

Heat policy

The tournament is played in January, during the Australian summer. In 1998 an extreme heat rule was brought in. It is the only major tournament that has a heat policy. If the temperature gets higher than 35 degrees (C) matches may have to be stopped for a short time, because players feel dehydrated. Matches on the outside courts are stopped. The roof over the main stadium courts can be closed, and cooling systems turned on. In 2007 the temperature on the courts reached 50 degrees Celsius.

Champions

Former champions

• Men's singles, winners of the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
• Women's singles, winners of the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.
• Men's doubles
• Women's doubles
• Mixed doubles
• All champions

Current champions

Most recent finals

2024 Event	Champion	Runner-up	Score
Men's singles	Jannik Sinner	Daniil Medvedev	3–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–3
Women's singles	Aryna Sabalenka	Zheng Qinwen	6–3, 6–2
Men's doubles	Rohan Bopanna Matthew Ebden	Simone Bolelli Andrea Vavassori	7–6(7–0), 7–5.
Women's doubles	Hsieh Su-wei Elise Mertens	Lyudmyla Kichenok Jeļena Ostapenko	6-1, 7-5
Mixed doubles	Hsieh Su-wei Jan Zieliński	Desirae Krawczyk Neal Skupski	6–7(5–7), 6–4, [11–9]

Records

Novak Djokovic, the all-time record holder in men's singles.

Margaret Court, the all-time record holder in women's singles.

• Unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments, which became open in 1968, the Australian tournament opened to professionals in 1969.

Record	Era	Player(s)	Count	Years
Men since 1905
Most singles titles	Open Era	Novak Djokovic	10	2008, 2011–2013, 2015–2016, 2019–2021, 2023
	Amateur Era	Roy Emerson	6	1961, 1963–1967
Most consecutive singles titles	Open Era	Novak Djokovic	3	2011–2013, 2019–2021
	Amateur Era	Roy Emerson	5	1963–1967
Most doubles titles	Open Era	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6	2006–2007, 2009–2011, 2013
	Amateur Era	Adrian Quist	10	1936–1940, 1946–1950
Most consecutive doubles titles	Open Era	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3	2009–2011
	Amateur Era	Adrian Quist	10	1936–1940, 1946–1950
Most mixed doubles titles	Open Era	Jim Pugh Leander Paes Daniel Nestor	3	1988–1990 2003, 2010, 2015 2007, 2011, 2014
	Amateur Era	Harry Hopman Colin Long	4	1930, 1936–1937, 1939 1940, 1946–1948
Most Championships (singles, doubles, mixed doubles)	Open Era	Novak Djokovic	10	2008–2023 (10 men's singles)
	Amateur Era	Adrian Quist	13	1936–1950 (3 singles, 10 men's doubles, 0 mixed doubles)
Women since 1922
Most singles titles	All-time	Margaret Court	11	1960–1966, 1969–1971, 1973
	Open Era	Serena Williams	7	2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017
	Amateur Era	Margaret Court	7	1960–1966
Most consecutive singles titles	Open Era	Margaret Court Evonne Goolagong Cawley Steffi Graf / Monica Seles Martina Hingis	3	1969–1971 1974–1976 1988–1990 1991–1993 1997–1999
	Amateur Era	Margaret Court	7	1960–1966
Most doubles titles	Amateur Era	Thelma Coyne Long	12	1936–1940, 1947–1949, 1951–1952, 1956, 1958
	Open Era	Martina Navratilova	8	1980, 1982–1985, 1987–1989
Most consecutive doubles titles	Open Era	Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver	7	1982–1985, 1987–1989
	Amateur Era	Thelma Coyne Long Nancye Wynne Bolton	5	1936–1940
Most mixed doubles titles	Open Era	Barbora Krejčíková	3	2019–2021
	Amateur Era	Daphne Akhurst Cozens Nell Hall Hopman Nancye Wynne Bolton Thelma Coyne Long	4	1924–1925, 1928–1929 1930, 1936–1937, 1939 1940, 1946–1948 1951–1952, 1954–1955
Most Championships (singles, doubles, mixed doubles)	All-time	Margaret Court	23	1960–1973 (11 singles, 8 women's doubles, 4 mixed doubles)
	Open Era	Martina Navratilova	12	1980–2003 (3 singles, 8 women's doubles, 1 mixed doubles)
	Amateur Era	Nancye Wynne Bolton	20	1936–1952 (6 singles, 10 women's doubles, 4 mixed doubles)
Wheelchair: singles since 2002, doubles since 2004, quads since 2008
Most singles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	11	2007–2011, 2013–2015, 2018, 2020, 2022
	Women	Esther Vergeer	9	2002–2004, 2006–2009, 2011–2012
	Quads	Dylan Alcott	7	2015–2021
Most consecutive singles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	5	2007–2011
	Women	Esther Vergeer Diede de Groot	4	2006–2009 2021–2024
	Quads	Dylan Alcott	7	2015–2021
Most doubles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	8	2007–2011, 2013–2015
	Women	Esther Vergeer Aniek van Koot	7	2003–2004, 2006–2009, 2011–2012 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2021–2023
	Quads	David Wagner	9	2008–2010, 2013–2017, 2022
Most consecutive doubles titles	Men	Shingo Kunieda	5	2007–2011
	Women	Esther Vergeer Diede de Groot	4	2006–2009 2021–2024
	Quads	David Wagner	5	2013–2017
Miscellaneous
Unseeded champions	Men	Mark Edmondson	1976
	Women	Chris O'Neil Serena Williams	1978 2007
Youngest singles champion	Men	Ken Rosewall	18 years and 2 months (1953)
	Women	Martina Hingis	16 years and 4 months (1997)
Oldest singles champion	Men	Ken Rosewall	37 years and 2 months (1972)
	Women	Thelma Coyne Long	35 years and 8 months (1954)

Images for kids

• 

  Rod Laver Arena.

• 

  Rafael Nadal, 2022 men's singles champion. It was his twenty-first major title and his second at the Australian Open.

• 

  Ashleigh Barty, 2022 women's singles champion. It was her third major title and her first at the Australian Open.

• 

  Thanasi Kokkinakis was part of the 2022 winning men's doubles team. It was his first major title.

• 

  Nick Kyrgios was part of the 2022 winning men's doubles team. It was his first major title.

• 

  Barbora Krejčíková was part of the 2022 winning women's doubles team. It was her fourth major title and first at the Australian Open.

• 

  Kateřina Siniaková was part of the 2022 winning women's doubles team. It was her fourth major title and first at the Australian Open.

• 

  Kristina Mladenovic was part of the 2022 winning mixed doubles team. It was her third major title and second at the Australian Open.

• 

  Ivan Dodig was part of the 2022 winning mixed doubles team. It was his fourth major title and first at the Australian Open.

See also

In Spanish: Abierto de Australia para niños