Australian Open

The Australian Open

Have you ever heard of the Australian Open? The Australian Open is the first of the four grand slams in the tennis year and is held every January under soaring hot temperatures. The four grand slams are the Australian Open, the Roland Garros (the French Open), Wimbledon and the US Open. The ultimate honor in tennis is winning the Grand Slam of Grand Slams, when a player wins all four of the grand slam matches. It is very difficult to achieve and only a few people in the history of tennis have been able to attain it. They include Don Budge in 1938, Maureen Connolly in 1953, Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969, Margaret Smith Court in 1970 and Steffi Graf in 1988.
The Australian Open is held at Melbourne Park in Melbourne. Melbourne Park is very big with a lot of facilities. There are twenty six tennis courts including four show courts. There is the famous Rod Laver Arena and the Margaret Court Arena. Apart from tennis courts, there is an Australian Open Shop and Café along with the Tennis Heritage Collection. The Melbourne Park Function Centre is where the Champions’ Acknowledgement Dinner is held after the Australian Open every year.
Although the Australian Open and the US Open are both played on hard courts, the Australian Open is played on rebound ace hard courts while the US Open is played on normal hard courts. Rebound ace courts tend to make the ball bounce up very high when the player puts a lot of top spin on the ball. The first serve of every player is hit very hard to try to put it out of the opponent’s reach. Every player has two chances to serve and the second serve should be lighter and more accurate. At the Australian Open, on rebound ace courts, the second serve is played with a lot of spin so that the ball will jump in a funny way making it harder for the opponent to return. Rebound ace courts, therefore, make the Australian Open the most exciting surface to play on.
The Rod Laver Arena was completed in...