Australian Open records and trivia

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[edit] Records

Youngest Champions

Men's singles: Rod Laver (18 years, two months) in 1953.
Women's singles:Martina Hingis (16 years, three months) in 1997.
Men's doubles: Lew Hoad (18 years, two months) in 1953.
Women's doubles: Mirjana Lucic (15 years, 10 months) in 1998.
Mixed doubles: Venus Williams (17 years, seven months) in 1998.

Oldest Champions

Men's singles: Ken Rosewall (37 years, two months) in 1972.
Women's singles: Thelma Long (35 years, eight months) in 1954.
Men's doubles: Norman Brookes (46 years, two months) in 1924.
Women's doubles: Thelma Long (37 years, seven months) in 1956.

Most successive singles

Men: Roy Emerson (five) 1963-1967.
Women: Margaret Smith (seven) 1960-1966.

Most successive doubles

Men: Adrian Quist (10) 1935-1950.
Women: Martina Navratilova / Pam Shriver (seven) 1983-1989.

Triple titles (singles, doubles, mixed doubles)

Men: John Hawkes 1926; Jean Borotra 1928; Jack Crawford 1932.
Women: Daphne Akhurst 1925 / 1928 / 1929; Nancye Wynne Bolton 1940/1947/1948; Thelma Long 1952; Margaret Smith 1963.

Junior and Senior Champions (singles champions who previously won a junior singles title)

Men: Jack Crawford, Vivian McGrath, Adrian Quist, John Bromwich, Dinny Pails, Frank Sedgman, Ken McGregor, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Stefan Edberg.
Women: Joan Hartigan, Emily Westacott, Thelma Long, Beryl Penrose, Mary Carter-Reitano, Kerry Reid, Evonne Cawley, Chris O'Neil.

Left-handed Singles Champions

Men: Horace Rice (1907), Norman Brookes (1911), John Hawkes (1926), Mervyn Rose (1954), Rod Laver (1960/1962/1969), Jimmy Connors (1974), Guillermo Vilas (Dec. 1978/1979), Roscoe Tanner (1977), Petr Korda (1998).
Women: Martina Navratilova (1981/1983/1985), Monica Seles (1991/1992/1993/1996).

Biggest Gap between First and Last Singles Titles

Men: Ken Rosewall (20 years) 1953-1972.
Women: Nancye Wynne Bolton (15 years) 1937-1951.

Whitewash Result

Men: (6-0 6-0 6-0) Recorded by six men - James Anderson (first round 1925), Fred Perry (quarter final 1935), John Bromwich (first round 1949), Neale Fraser (first round 1953), Martin Mulligan (first round 1960), Richard Russell (first round 1966).
Women: (6-0 6-0) Recorded by 13 women, including four in 1998 (Mary Pierce achieving the feat twice). Margaret Court achieved the feat four times and Wendy Turnbull three times.

Unseeded Champions

Men: Mark Edmondson (1976).
Women: Chris O'Neil (1978).

Champions Abroad but not at home (Eight former Australian players who won Grand Slam singles titles overseas but failed to capture their native crown):

Neale Fraser: three-times Australian runner-up (Wimbledon and US champion).
Fred Stolle: twice Australian runner-up (French and US champion).
Mal Anderson: twice Australian runner-up (US champion).
Tony Roche: Australian semi finalist (French champion).
Lesley Turner Bowrey: twice Australian runner-up (French champion).
Pat Cash: twice Australian runner-up (Wimbledon champion).
Pat Rafter: Australian semi finalist (US champion)
Lleyton Hewitt: Australian runner-up (Wimbledon and US champions).

Men's record holders for most wins since 1925:

All competitions: Adrian Quist (Australia), 13.
Singles: Roy Emerson (Australia), 6.
Consecutive singles titles: Roy Emerson (Australia), 5 (1963-1967).
Doubles: Adrian Quist (Australia), 10.

Ladies' record holders for most wins since 1925:

All competitions: Margaret Smith Court (Australia), 21.
Singles: Margaret Smith Court (Australia), 11.
Consecutive singles titles: Margaret Smith Court (Australia), 7 (1960-1966).
Doubles: Thelma Long (Australia), 12.

Last Australian men's singles champion: Mark Edmondson (1976)
Last Australian women's singles champion: Christine O'Neill (1978)

[edit] Interesting facts

John Newcombe won three Wimbledon titles and one US Open crown before winning the Australian Open in Melbourne in 1973.
Rhys Gemmell (1921 men's singles champion) is the only Australian-born champion not to have played Davis Cup for his country.
The 1998 Australian Open saw two of the five senior titles won by wildcards - Martina Hingis and Mirjana Lucic in the women's doubles and Justin Gimelstob and Venus Williams in the mixed doubles.
Martina Hingis was Women singles' champion from 1997 to 1999 and runner-up from 2000-2002. When she become the runner-up in singles again in 2002, she said she has also engraved her name on the cup for three times continuously; however, it's on the Runner-up Cup instead of the Champion Cup.

Championships won from Match Point Down

Margaret Molesworth survived a match point at 5-6 in final set of semifinal against Sylvia Lance.
Gerald Patterson saved four match points at 12-13 and one at 15-16 in fourth set before beating John Hawkes in final.
Dinny Pails saved a match point at 5-6 in fifth set against John Bromwich in finals.
Mary Carter survived a match point in defeating Thelma Long in final
Rod Laver at 4-5 in fourth set saved a match point to defeat Neale Fraser in final.
John Newcombe defeated Tony Roche in semifinal after Roche held two match points at 5-2 and one more at 8-7; Newcombe defeated Jimmy Connors in the final.
Johan Kriek survived match point in semifinal against Paul McNamee at 3-5 in fifth set before going on to defeat Steve Denton in final.
Stefan Edberg saved two match points in the fourth round against Wally Masur before defeating Mats Wilander in final.
Monica Seles defeated Mary Joe Fernandez in semifinal after saving a match point at 5-6 30-40 in third set; Seles defeated Jana Novotna in the final.
Marat Safin defeated Roger Federer in the semifinals in 2005 after saving a match point in a fourth set tiebreak. Safin defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the final.
Jennifer Capriati saved 4 match points in the finals in 2002 before defeating Martina Hingis.
Serena Williams has twice taken the title having been match point down in the semi-final. In 2003 she saved two match points on Kim Clijsters serve in the final set, trailing 5-2, and then won five consecutive games to go on to the final where she defeated her sister to hold all four majors at once. In 2005, Maria Sharapova looked on her way to victory in the third set having held three match points on her own serve, at 5-4, Serena hit back with three winners (one at 140km/h) and went on to defeat Lindsay Davenport in a 3 set final.

Longest Singles matches

Number of games: 93 games: In 1970 Dennis Ralston d. John Newcombe in QF 19-17 20-18 4-6 6-3 in a match lasting 241 minutes.
Duration: 281 minutes: Boris Becker d. Omar Camporese in 3R 7-6 7-6 0-6 4-6 23-21 in 1991.

Longest Doubles Match:

Duration: 329 minutes: In 1990 Pieter Aldrich / Danie Visser d. Scott Davis / Robert Van't Hof 6-4 4-6 7-6 4-6 23-21, the deciding set lasting 173 minutes.

Most Dominant Male Champion:

Tony Wilding, in winning the 1909 title in Perth won 73 games and conceded only 11 in recording four straight sets victories.

Champions without loss of a set

Men: Tony Wilding (1909), Rodney Heath (1910), Pat O'Hara Wood (1923), Donald Budge (1938), John Bromwich (1939), Roy Emerson (1964), Ken Rosewall (1971).
Women: Margaret Molesworth (1922), Daphne Akhurst (1926, 1928), Coral Buttsworth (1932), Joan Hartigan (1934, 1936), Dorothy Bundy (1938), Emily Westacott (1939), Nancye Bolton (1946, 1947, 1948, 1951), Maureen Connolly (153), Thelma Long (1954), Shirley Fry (1957), Angela Mortimer (1958), Mary Carter-Reitano (1959), Margaret Court (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1973), Nancy Richey (1967), Billie Jean King (1968), Virginia Wade (1972), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1975, 1976, Dec. 1977), Chris O'Neil (1978), Steffi Graf (1988, 1989, 1994), Martina Hingis (1997), Lindsay Davenport (2000).

First to retain title