Australian Open Winners

For much of its early history the Australian Open was a tennis championship fixture that faced difficult logistical problems. Tennis players from outside of Australia struggled to make the slow expensive journey to Melbourne, and even within Australia attending the event could be expensive and time consuming.

During these years the majority of Australian Open winners were Australasian players, and furthermore until 1922 and the advent of the ladies singles title, all were male. The two players who dominated these early years of competition were Rodney Heath and New Zealander Tony Wilding.

During the 1930's Australia's Jack Crawford emerged as one of the all time great Australian Open winners with four titles in five years. Crawford's world no. 1 ranking in 1993 made him one of Australia's first international tennis champions. Crawford's heir in the final years of amateur competition was Queenslander Roy Emerson, whose 6 Australian Open winners titles have not been surpassed to date.

The first female tennis player to dominate the Australian Open was also Australian born. From 1937-1951 Nancy Wynne Bolton won the trophy six times, making the final on eight occasions.

The advent of the Open era in 1968, and the participation of professional tennis players in the Australian Open for the first time marked the end of Australasian dominance of the tournament.

Particularly in the men's tournament, top international players came to the fore and began to win titles on a regular basis. The list of male Australian Open winners in the Open Era reads like a tennis legends directory. Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Matts Wilander and Stefan Edberg all left their names engraved on the Australian Open winners trophy marking it as a genuine Grand Slam prize.

The move to Melbourne Park in 1988 saw the Australian Open come into its own. Since then the title of Australian Open winner has belonged to a host of modern prodigies including Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer.

The women's title took somewhat longer to acquire an international flavour. Australian champions such as Margaret Court and Margaret Smith ensured Australian dominance of the singles titles well into the 1970's. It was only in the 1980's that international players began winning the female singles titles on a regular basis, with Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles all winning several titles.