Courts at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament

Australian Open also formerly known as the Australian Championships is the first Grand Slam event that is held in a year. This tournament was held for the first time in the year 1905. This event was also contested by top-ranked amateur players but after the advent of Open Tennis in 1968 Australian Championships was renamed to Australian Open. This tournament is held in the month of January at the Melbourne Park. However from 1977 to 1985 the events were held in the month of December.

The event was then not held in 1987 due to the change of date from December to January. As it is held in the middle of Australian Summers so many a times an extreme heat policy is used in the games. There are certain Courts at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament that are used to hold the games.

There are mainly two Courts at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament that are used for holding most of the events that are featured in the Australian Open. These two courts are present in the Melbourne Park. These two courts are Rod Laver arena and the Vodafone arena. The Rod Laver Arena is a part of the Melbourne Park located in Melbourne which is situated in Victoria in Australia. It is named after the legendary player Rod Player who was the only player to have won this Grand Slam event twice. It has a seating capacity of 14, 820 and it attracts 1.5 million visitors every year. This court is featured with retractable roofs which facilitate indoor play. The other court i.e. the Vodafone Arena was completed in 2000. It has a maximum seating capacity of 11,000 people. This court is also featured by retractable roofs that facilitate indoor play.

The Courts at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament apart from hosting the Australian Open have also hosted Commonwealth Games and many Concerts. However, due to these courts Australian open has become the only Grand Slam event to facilitate indoor play in times of extreme heat or rain.