Australian Tennis Open 2009 - Australian Open ATP Tennis Odds – Tennis Grand Slam Events Australian Open Tennis Odds at Australian Open Odds 2009 by Jazz Sports

Australian Tennis Open 2009

The Australian Open tennis tournament is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.It is held annually in Melbourne, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the world's four major tournaments which together constitute the Grand Slam.
Traditionally, accomplishing a slam is to win all four majors in a calendar year; recently tennis fans have adopted the shorthand of referring to each of the four parts of the Slamas a slam in itself.

Australian Tennis Open 2009 Venue Guide

From Hugh Westbrook in Melbourne: Melbourne Park hosts the first Grand Slam of 2001, and the growth of the venue has coincided with the increased prestige of the tournament.

A Multi-functional Arena: The 10,800-capacity Vodafone Arena is open for business, and with the existing Rod Laver Arena means the tournament will now utilise two show courts with retractable roofs.

Hail a Water Taxi: The circular Garden Square will be a focal point during the tournament, people will congregate to watch the action on a giant screen, while others can view bronze sculptures of the members of Australia's Tennis Hall of Fame.

More Australian Open Venue

The 2009 Championship

The 2009 Australian Open is the tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. This is the 97th edition, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It will take place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from January 19 through February 1, 2009. This event is notorious for uncomfortably hot playing conditions, and organizers have had to institute an Extreme Heat Policy to regulate when conditions are not viable for international competition. For this reason only the most tenacious and physically fit players will succeed.

To try to find a solution to this problem, a retractable roof was constructed over the centre court, known as the Rod Laver Arena since the year 2000 and it has proved to be an enormous success. This idea will be emulated in other cases, such as the All England Club in England, where the weather is also difficult. In the case of Wimbledon however, it will not be to protect the players from extreme heat, but from the incessant rain that has troubled the Championships for so long.

What made the 2008 event all the more thrilling was that a new surface called 'Plexicushion' had replaced the former Rebound Ace. Defending champion and current World number 1, Roger Federer, gave the new surfaces a 'thumbs up' and indicated that he was really eager to defend his title at Melbourne.

"Once again, I am very excited to start the new year's Grand Slam season in Australia and to try and defend my title once again,'' Federer said, before the 2008 event. "I am looking forward to the new surface and especially playing in front of the Australian fans … they are some of the best fans in the world!"

Federer eventually lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets at the semi final of the 2008 Australian Open, Djokovic went on to defeat France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and claimed his first grand slam title - he also became the first player from Serbia to win the title.

Maria Sharapova overcame a season riddled with injury to win the 2008 Australian Open women's championship in a 7-5 6-3 defeat against former world number one Ana Ivanovic.

The 2009 Australian Open tennis tournament promises to be an event of epic proportions - not only is the purse an astonishing AUS$20 000 000, but the amount of spectators are expected to beat the current record of 584,476 - the amount reached at the 2008 record-breaking event.