The five times the Australian Open was played over Christmas

Jules Hypolite

le 24/12/2024 à 22h31

1 min to read

Gerulaitis Goolagong Kriek Navratilova Newcombe Vilas

In the 70s and up to the early 80s, the Australian Open had a very different configuration to the one we know today.

At the time, the Grand Slam suffered from a huge lack of popularity, partly because of the distance players had to cover to get to Australia, and partly because of its very special dates.

The Australian Open, then held at the Kooyong venue (now an exhibition tournament), was played over Christmas and New Year on five occasions.

The 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981 editions all started before Christmas and finished in January of the following year. A particular context which did not favor the arrival of the star players of the time.

As a result, the prize lists in the two main draws were rather varied: John Newcombe and Evonne Goolagong in 1975, Vitas Gerulaitis and Goolagong in 1977, Guillermo Vilas and Chris O'Neil in 1978, Vilas and Barbara Jordan in 1979 and Johan Kriek and Martina Navratilova in 1981 (the ladies' tournament took place earlier in December).

From 1987 onwards, the dates of the tournament changed (as did the surface, from grass to hard), and it began to be played at the start of the calendar year.

But it wasn't until the mid-90s that a definitive change was made to the reputation of the Grand Slam, which had long suffered in comparison with the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.