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A proud history of Australian AO champions at Melbourne Park | 18 December, 2023 | All News | News and Features | News and Events

A proud history of Australian AO champions at Melbourne Park | 18 December, 2023 | All News | News and Features | News and Events

Fifty Australian players have become Australian Open champions, in at least one event, since the tournament moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.

Melbourne, Australia, 18 December 2023 | Matt Trollope

Among the most unforgettable moments for Aussie tennis fans was Ash Barty’s triumph at Australian Open 2022 – a match attracting some of the highest domestic TV ratings in two decades.

No Australian player had ever won the men’s or women’s singles tournament since the AO had moved to Melbourne Park in 1988; Barty’s triumph ended a 44-year wait for a home-grown singles champion.

Given the increasing depth and strength of global tennis competition, the degree of difficulty confronting local singles hopes is higher than ever. However, you can almost guarantee there will be at least one Aussie champion, in any event, each January.

History supports this statement. In the 36 editions of the tournament at Melbourne Park, only five times – 1990, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011 – has an Australian player’s name not been engraved on a trophy.

There are now 15 events staged each year at the AO, and there has been at least one Australian champion in 11 of them.

Event Australian champions (since 1988)
Men’s singles
Women’s singles Barty
Men’s doubles Woodbridge, Woodforde, Warder, Rafter, Peers, Kokkinakis, Kyrgios, Hijikata, Kubler
Women’s doubles Stubbs, Molik, Stosur
Mixed doubles Provis, Woodforde, Woodbridge, Stubbs, Stosur, Draper, Gajdosova, Ebden
Boys’ singles J.Anderson, Doyle, Ellwood, Klein, Tomic, Saville, Kyrgios, O.Anderson
Girls’ singles Faull, Pratt, Limmer, Musgrave, Drake-Brockman
Boys’ doubles Stoltenberg, Woodbridge, J.Anderson, Doyle, Eagle, Sceney, Ellwood, Philippoussis, Bourgeois, Henry, Reid, Andrijic, Mousley, Delaney, Polmans, De Minaur, Ellis
Girls’ doubles Faull, McQuillan, Dominikovic, Molik, Wheeler, Dellacqua, Szili
Men’s wheelchair singles Hall
Women’s wheelchair singles
Quad wheelchair singles Alcott
Men’s wheelchair doubles
Women’s wheelchair doubles
Quad wheelchair doubles Alcott, Davidson

It’s an astonishing success rate – 50 Australian players have become Australian Open champions, in at least one event, at Melbourne Park.

Of those 50 Aussies, Todd Woodbridge holds the distinction of being a champion in three different events – men’s doubles (1992, 1997, 2001), mixed doubles (1993) and boys’ doubles (1988, 1989). No other…

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