Three weeks in January when the whole country runs on tennis — from Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane to the roar under the roof at Rod Laver.
Every January, Australia does something no other tennis nation manages quite so completely: it hands the country over to the sport. Not for a weekend, and not just in one city. From New Year's Day, when the first serves go up in Perth and Sydney, through to the first days of February when the last trophy is lifted in Melbourne, tennis owns the back page, the evening news and — for a great many Australian families — the television in the corner of the room until well past midnight.
The timing helps. The tennis lands in the deepest part of the Australian summer, in the long, loose stretch of school holidays when nobody is quite back at work. So does the history. Australia is a country of roughly 27 million people that has produced 166 Grand Slam titles — a tally second only to the United States — along with 28 Davis Cups and seven Billie Jean King Cups. That is not one golden generation. It is a century of backyard courts, country club championships and a national habit that has never quite faded.
This guide covers the whole picture: the Australian Open itself, the lead-in tournaments most visitors never think to attend, the champions whose names are now painted on the arenas, the generation coming through, and the practical detail of actually getting to a match.
The Australian Open is the first Grand Slam of the tennis year and, on almost every measure that can be counted, the most heavily attended annual sporting event in the Southern Hemisphere. It began in 1905 as the Australasian Championships and spent its first eight decades wandering — Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, and even Christchurch and Hastings in New Zealand. Brisbane's Milton Courts hosted it five times up to 1960, the year Rod Laver and Margaret Smith — later Margaret Court — won the singles titles on Milton's grass.
The tournament settled permanently in Melbourne in 1972 at Kooyong, then moved again in 1988 to the purpose-built precinct now known as Melbourne Park. That move brought the two changes that define the modern event: a shift from grass to hard courts, and a stadium with a roof. For a tournament played in a city that can serve up 40°C one afternoon and a southerly change the next, the roof was transformative. Play no longer stops.
The nickname — the “Happy Slam”, coined by Roger Federer — stuck because the event genuinely does feel different from the other three majors. It is less formal than Wimbledon, less frantic than New York, less austere than Paris. It is a summer festival that happens to have world-class tennis at the centre of it, and the crowds behave accordingly.
Australian Open 2026 ran from 18 January to 1 February and drew 1,368,043 people through the gates across the three-week precinct period — a record, up from 1,218,831 in 2025. The main draw alone accounted for 1,150,044 of those. Opening Week, once a quiet qualifying period nobody bought a ticket for, pulled 217,999 fans, nearly double the previous year. Individual days broke records too: 103,956 people came through on a single Thursday in the first week.
Prize money for 2026 sat at A$111.5 million. The event contributes an estimated $565 million to the Victorian economy annually and supports over 2,300 jobs. Whatever else it is, the Australian Open is now a very large business built on a very small ball.
On court, 2026 delivered two milestones. Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the men's final for his first Australian Open title, completing the career Grand Slam and becoming the youngest man in history to do so. Elena Rybakina beat Aryna Sabalenka for her maiden Melbourne crown. In the mixed doubles, Australians Olivia Gadecki and John Peers successfully defended their title — a rare piece of home silverware.
Australian Open 2027 runs from 11 to 31 January at Melbourne Park. Opening Week is 11–16 January, the main draw begins on Sunday 17 January — the tournament's fourth consecutive Sunday start — and the singles finals are held on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January. That is the block to protect in your calendar, and inner-Melbourne accommodation should be locked in months ahead.
Ground Pass allocations for AO 2027 will be capped daily for the first time, in response to the crowd numbers above. Early-bird pricing applies until late November 2026. If a Ground Pass day is part of your plan, buy ahead rather than at the gate.
Melbourne Park is a walkable precinct on the eastern edge of the Melbourne CBD, wedged between the Yarra River and the MCG. There are 39 courts on site — 33 hard courts and six clay courts that sit unused during the tournament — and a hierarchy of arenas that determines what your ticket actually buys you.
Named in January 2000 for the only man to win two calendar-year Grand Slams. Hosts both singles finals and the marquee night sessions. Requires a dedicated stadium ticket.
Also roofed. Carries high-profile day and night matches and much of the wheelchair and doubles programme in the second week.
The people's court, and the traditional home of raucous Australian support. Ground Pass holders can access unreserved seating subject to availability.
The part experienced fans quietly prefer. In the first week you can stand three metres from a top-50 player on an outside court, watch a five-set qualifier nobody has heard of yet, then walk twenty steps to the practice courts and watch a Grand Slam champion drill backhands.
A Ground Pass is the entry-level ticket and, for many visitors, the best-value day out in Australian sport. AO 2027 Ground Passes start from around $49 with early-bird pricing. It admits you to the precinct, all outside courts, the practice courts, the big screens, the festival zones — Grand Slam Oval, Garden Square, TOPCOURT — and the food and entertainment programme, plus unreserved John Cain Arena seating when space allows. Evening ground passes, available after 5pm on selected days, are cheaper again.
What it does not get you is a reserved seat in Rod Laver or Margaret Court Arena. If you want a specific marquee player at a specific time, you need the stadium ticket for that session. If you want to soak up the tournament and see a great deal of live tennis, the Ground Pass is the smarter purchase — particularly in the first week, when the outside courts are packed with genuinely good matches.
Public transport is comfortably the best option. Trams 70 and 70a run from Flinders Street directly to the precinct and are free for ticket holders on match days. Richmond and Jolimont stations are both short walks away, and Melbourne Park is roughly a ten-minute walk from the CBD across Birrarung Marr and the Tanderrum Bridge. Driving is possible but parking is limited, expensive and needs pre-booking.
January in Melbourne can be brutal. Temperatures of 30–40°C are normal and heatwaves are not unusual. The tournament operates a heat policy at the match referee's discretion, which can close the roofs on the three main arenas and suspend play outside. Bring a hat, sunglasses and a refillable bottle; there are free sunscreen stations and water fountains across the precinct. You may bring your own food and drink subject to size limits — no eskies, hampers, glass, cans or containers over 1.5 litres.
If you would rather not buy a ticket at all, Federation Square runs a free big screen through the tournament from late morning until late at night. It is a genuinely good way to watch a night session with a crowd.
Here is the thing experienced Australian tennis fans know and most visitors don't: the tournaments before the Australian Open are often better value and, in some cases, a better experience. The fields are strong, the venues are smaller, the tickets cost a fraction, and you can get close enough to hear players talk to their boxes.
The season opens with the United Cup, a mixed-gender national team event run jointly by the ATP and WTA. The 2026 edition ran 2–11 January across RAC Arena in Perth and Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney Olympic Park, with 18 nations competing. Each tie is a men's singles, a women's singles and a mixed doubles rubber, with group winners advancing to quarterfinals in the host city and the semifinals and final played in Sydney. Poland, led by Iga Świątek, took the 2026 title with a win over Switzerland — their first, after two previous runner-up finishes.
The team format changes the atmosphere completely. Players sit on benches, captains coach openly, and crowds pick a flag. For Australian fans it is the first look at the national team each year — and in 2026 it was the first time since Ash Barty's retirement that Australia fielded men's and women's singles players simultaneously inside the world's top 32.
Founded in 2009, the Brisbane International is a combined ATP 250 and WTA 500 event on the outdoor hard courts at the Queensland Tennis Centre in Tennyson, about eight kilometres from Brisbane's CBD. The 2026 edition ran 4–11 January, with qualifying from 2 January, and drew seven of the world's top ten women.
Daniil Medvedev won the men's title, beating Brandon Nakashima 6–2, 7–6(1) for his 22nd tour-level trophy and becoming the first top seed to win in Brisbane since Roger Federer in 2015. Aryna Sabalenka took her second consecutive women's title with a straight-sets win over Marta Kostyuk. Past champions read like a roll call of the sport: Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Karolína Plíšková three times, Andy Murray, Federer, Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios.
For anyone in or visiting South East Queensland, this is the easiest world-class tennis in the country to attend. A ground pass costs a fraction of Melbourne, the venue is compact, and the practice courts are genuinely accessible.
In the second week of January the tour splits again. The Adelaide International is played at Memorial Drive — universally known as “The Drive” — a heritage venue beside the River Torrens in the parklands north of the Adelaide CBD. Madison Keys won there in 2025 immediately before her breakthrough Australian Open title.
The Hobart International, a WTA 250 at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, is the longest-running of the lead-ins and reached its 31st edition in 2026, running 12–17 January and won by Elisabetta Cocciaretto. It is the most intimate event on the Australian calendar and pairs beautifully with a few days in southern Tasmania.
Running alongside them, the Canberra International is a Challenger-level event on both tours that consistently attracts unusually strong draws for its category. Queensland also hosts Australian Pro Tour events including the Queensland International series, where the home-grown professional ranks fight it out.
| Event | City & venue | Level | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Cup | Perth (RAC Arena) & Sydney (Ken Rosewall Arena) | ATP/WTA teams | Early January |
| Brisbane International | Brisbane (Queensland Tennis Centre) | ATP 250 / WTA 500 | First week of January |
| Canberra International | Canberra | Challenger | First week of January |
| Adelaide International | Adelaide (Memorial Drive) | ATP / WTA | Second week of January |
| Hobart International | Hobart | WTA 250 | Second week of January |
| Australian Open | Melbourne (Melbourne Park) | Grand Slam | Mid-January to early February |
Brisbane's tennis history is longer and more significant than most people realise. The Milton Courts, on the grass beside the river in inner-western Brisbane, hosted the Australian Championships five times between 1915 and 1960 and served as a Davis Cup venue during the years when Australia simply did not lose. Milton is gone now — the site became a housing development in the 1990s — but the lineage did not break.
Queensland's contribution to the national game is disproportionate. Rod Laver was born at Rockhampton. Pat Rafter grew up in Mount Isa and later on the Sunshine Coast. Ash Barty was raised in Ipswich, learned the game at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre, and became the first Australian woman to win the Australian Open singles title since 1978 when she took the 2022 crown. Between them, those three names represent a haul few nations can match, let alone a single state.
The Queensland Tennis Centre opened on 2 January 2009 at a cost of around A$82 million, built on the site of the old Tennyson Power Station on a bend of the Brisbane River. It carries 23 courts built to International Tennis Federation standards and is the first facility in Australia to offer all three Grand Slam surfaces — grass, clay and cushioned hard court — on one site. The 5,500-seat main show court is named for Pat Rafter, twice a US Open champion and one of the most genuinely popular figures the Australian game has produced.
The centre is home to the Brisbane International and the National Tennis Academy, and unlike many elite venues it is open to the public for court hire and coaching outside tournament weeks. If you want to play on a Grand Slam surface rather than just watch one, this is one of the very few places in the country where you can.
The Queensland Tennis Centre has been confirmed as the venue for tennis and wheelchair tennis at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To meet Olympic requirements — which involve roughly 30% more players and 75% more matches than the Brisbane International — the site is being significantly expanded under the Queensland Government's 2032 delivery plan.
The upgrade adds a new 3,000-seat roofed show court alongside Pat Rafter Arena, plus up to 12 additional ITF-specification match courts, on a 2.3-hectare land expansion. Tennis Australia and Tennis Queensland have both framed the project as a legacy investment rather than a Games-only build: more community court access, more capacity to attract international events, and a permanently upgraded home for the National Tennis Academy.
By 2032, Brisbane will be one of a very small number of cities on earth to have hosted Olympic tennis. The courts being built for it will still be open to the public the week after.
Between the early 1950s and the early 1970s, Australia did not just compete in world tennis — it ran it. The Davis Cup, then the most prestigious prize in the sport, came to Australia so consistently that the years it did not are easier to list. Roy Emerson alone won eight Davis Cups between 1959 and 1967, a record that still stands. Australia's total sits at 28, alongside seven Billie Jean King Cups. Combined, the nation's 35 world team titles are second only to the United States.
The Rockhampton-born left-hander remains the only player, male or female, to win two calendar-year Grand Slams — in 1962 as an amateur and again in 1969 in the Open era. Five years of his prime were spent barred from the majors as a professional, which makes his eleven Grand Slam singles titles an undercount rather than a total. He was also the first player in the sport to earn a million dollars in prize money. Melbourne's centre court took his name in January 2000.
The most decorated player in the history of tennis by raw numbers: 24 Grand Slam singles titles, plus 19 women's doubles and 21 mixed doubles, for a total of 64 majors. She won the first of seven consecutive Australian singles titles at 17. The second show court at Melbourne Park carries her name.
Ken Rosewall won majors 19 years apart and was still contesting Grand Slam finals at 39. Roy Emerson took 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 in doubles, and is one of only four players to complete a double career Grand Slam in singles. John Newcombe won seven singles majors and 17 in doubles, and captained the Davis Cup side to further titles afterwards.
A Wiradjuri woman from Barellan in country New South Wales, Goolagong Cawley won the French Open and Wimbledon in 1971 at 19, took four consecutive Australian Open singles titles from 1974 to 1977, and returned to win Wimbledon again in 1980 as a mother. She remains one of the most beloved figures in Australian sport, and the Australian Open now dedicates a day of the tournament in her honour.
The last Australian man to win the Australian Open singles title was Mark Edmondson in 1976. Ranked 212 in the world at the time, he remains the lowest-ranked player ever to win a Grand Slam. Half a century on, that record has become the most quoted statistic in Australian tennis every January.
Since then the highlights have come in bursts. Pat Cash won Wimbledon in 1987 and climbed into the crowd to do it. Pat Rafter won back-to-back US Opens in 1997 and 1998 and reached world No. 1. Lleyton Hewitt won the US Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002, finishing two years as world No. 1 and later captaining the Davis Cup team. Samantha Stosur won the 2011 US Open, beating Serena Williams in the final. And Ash Barty, having reached world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, won the 2022 Australian Open and retired within two months at 25 — a decision that stunned the sport and remains, in Australia, entirely understood.
Doubles has been kinder. Australians featured in three of the past four winning men's doubles teams at Melbourne Park: Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis in 2022, Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler in 2023, and Matthew Ebden with Rohan Bopanna in 2024. Olivia Gadecki and John Peers have now won the mixed doubles twice, in 2025 and 2026.
Australian tennis is in a healthier place than it has been for over a decade. Twenty-one Australians made the singles main draws at the 2026 Australian Open, eight men and eight women entering directly with the rest arriving through wildcards and qualifying.
The country's clear No. 1. De Minaur entered the 2026 Australian Open at a then joint career-high of world No. 6 and reached a career-best No. 5 in July 2026 — the first Australian man inside the world's top five in 17 years, and only the seventh ever, after Laver, Rosewall, Newcombe, Cash, Rafter and Hewitt. Nicknamed the Demon for his speed and relentlessness, he wears a “109” tattoo marking his selection as the 109th Australian Davis Cup player, and his best tennis has always arrived in national colours.
Born in 2006, Joint went from world No. 730 to the top 32 in two years, winning WTA singles titles at Eastbourne and Rabat in her first full season and reaching a career-high of No. 28 in February 2026. She has taken over as Australia's leading woman and was seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time in 2026.
Alexei Popyrin has the biggest ball-striking of the Australian men and a Masters 1000 title to his name. James Duckworth, Adam Walton, Tristan Schoolkate, Rinky Hijikata, Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis fill out a deeper men's group than Australia has had in years. On the women's side, Queenslanders Kimberly Birrell and Priscilla Hon both posted career-best 2025 seasons, Ajla Tomljanović continues to compete at tour level, Olivia Gadecki has become a genuine doubles force, and Daria Kasatkina competed under the Australian flag at Melbourne Park for the first time in 2026 after switching allegiance.
The one to watch longest. Born on the Gold Coast in 2008 and raised playing at Coomera, Jones reached world No. 1 in the ITF junior rankings in September 2024 — the first Australian junior to do so since Jelena Dokic in 1998 — and cracked the top 130 of the senior WTA rankings before turning 18. She is the most credentialed Australian junior prospect in a generation.
The players in their late teens now — Jones, Joint and the group behind them — will be in their mid-twenties and at peak career age when Olympic tennis is played at the Queensland Tennis Centre in 2032. That is the context behind every Australian junior result being reported at the moment.
Australia has one of the highest per-capita rates of tennis court provision in the world and, unusually, most of it is public or semi-public. Nearly every suburb and country town has a club with courts available for casual hire, typically bookable online, often unstaffed and unlocked by code. Rates are modest, hire racquets are common, and lights are standard.
The Queensland Tennis Centre offers public court hire across all three Grand Slam surfaces outside event weeks — the only facility in the country that can make that claim. Melbourne Park's outer courts are similarly available for hire for much of the year. Both require advance booking, and both are considerably cheaper than visitors expect.
If tennis is the reason for the trip, you are coming in January. There is no second season. The practical question is which weeks. A trip built entirely around Australian Open finals weekend is expensive and, in some ways, the least rewarding option — you will see two matches at premium prices. A better structure for most visitors is to arrive in the first week of January, catch a lead-in event in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide or Hobart, then move to Melbourne for the Australian Open's first week, when Ground Pass access delivers the most tennis per dollar.
Hot, and variably so. Melbourne swings hardest — 40°C followed by 22°C and rain within 24 hours is a normal January. Brisbane is more consistently humid and subtropical, with afternoon storms. Perth is dry and reliably hot. Hobart is the mild outlier and can be genuinely cool at night. Pack for all of it, and treat sun protection as non-negotiable.
The major venues are well provisioned. Melbourne Park offers dedicated accessible seating bays for wheelchair users, low-mobility patrons, and blind, low-vision, deaf and hard-of-hearing fans, with accessibility pre-sale ticket windows opening ahead of general release. The Queensland Tennis Centre is similarly equipped. Australia also runs a significant wheelchair tennis programme, with the Australian Open wheelchair events held in the tournament's final week and a wheelchair international now attached to the Brisbane International.
The distances are the part most international visitors underestimate. Brisbane to Melbourne is roughly 1,700 km by road; Perth to Sydney is nearly 4,000 km. Flying between capitals is the only sensible option for a two-week tennis itinerary, with coach and rail better suited to the regional legs at either end. Our national guide to getting around Australia covers the trade-offs in detail.
Cooee Tours has been moving groups around Queensland since 1974, from our own Brisbane depot with our own fleet. Charter transfers to the Queensland Tennis Centre, airport runs for interstate arrivals, and multi-day touring built around a tournament week.
See our Brisbane toursAustralian Open 2027 runs from 11 to 31 January at Melbourne Park. Opening Week is 11–16 January, the main draw begins Sunday 17 January, and the singles finals are held on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January.
Cushioned hard court, currently a GreenSet surface. The tournament was played on grass until it moved to Melbourne Park in 1988. Melbourne Park has 39 courts in total, 33 hard and six clay, with the clay courts unused during the tournament.
For most visitors, yes, particularly in the first week. A Ground Pass admits you to all outside courts, practice courts, big screens and festival zones, plus unreserved John Cain Arena seating subject to availability. It does not include reserved seating in Rod Laver Arena or Margaret Court Arena. Ground Pass allocations are being capped daily from 2027, so buy in advance.
The United Cup in Perth and Sydney and the Brisbane International at the Queensland Tennis Centre open the season in the first week of January, alongside the Canberra International. The Adelaide International at Memorial Drive and the Hobart International follow in the second week, overlapping with Australian Open Opening Week in Melbourne.
Ash Barty won the women's singles title in 2022, the first Australian woman to do so since Chris O'Neil in 1978. The last Australian man to win was Mark Edmondson in 1976, who at world No. 212 remains the lowest-ranked player ever to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Yes. Outside tournament weeks the centre offers public court hire and coaching across grass, clay and cushioned hard courts, the only facility in Australia with all three Grand Slam surfaces on one site. Advance booking is required.
At the Queensland Tennis Centre in Tennyson. The venue is being expanded with a new 3,000-seat roofed show court alongside the existing 5,500-seat Pat Rafter Arena, plus up to 12 additional ITF-standard match courts, to host both tennis and wheelchair tennis events.
Melbourne regularly reaches 30–40°C during the Australian Open, with heatwaves possible. A heat policy applies at the match referee's discretion and the three roofed arenas can be closed. Brisbane is humid and subtropical with afternoon storms, Perth is dry and hot, and Hobart is considerably milder. Sun protection and water are essential at every venue.
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Cooee Tours acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and recognise that the places described here hold deep cultural significance for the First Peoples who have cared for them for tens of thousands of years.