{"id":9849,"date":"2015-02-02T09:29:17","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T01:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=9849"},"modified":"2015-02-02T09:29:17","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T01:29:17","slug":"australian-open-2015-the-final-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2015\/02\/02\/australian-open-2015-the-final-word","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open 2015 &#8211; The Final Word"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/files\/2015\/02\/AO-2015-410.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9851\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/files\/2015\/02\/AO-2015-410.jpg\" alt=\"Novak Djokovic\" width=\"410\" height=\"273\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For two weeks the world\u2019s top tennis players have excited and delighted fans at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now, as top seeds <strong>Serena Williams<\/strong> (USA) and <strong>Novak Djokovic<\/strong> (SRB) celebrate their Grand Slam victories, we look back at <strong>Australian Open 2015<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On-court action<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>World No.1 and tournament top seed <strong>Serena Williams<\/strong> (USA) won her sixth Australian Open crown and 19<sup>th<\/sup> Grand Slam title with victory over [2] <strong>Maria Sharapova<\/strong> (RUS) 6-3 7-6(5). Williams was presented the <strong>Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup<\/strong> by tennis legend <strong>Martina Navratilova<\/strong> (USA) on the 30<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of her 1985 title win<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>World No.1 [1] <strong>Novak Djokovic<\/strong> (SRB) celebrated his fifth Australian Open title and eighth Grand Slam victory with a four-set win over [6] <strong>Andy Murray<\/strong> (GBR) 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0. Djokovic received the <strong>Norman Brookes Challenge Cup<\/strong> from Australian tennis icon <strong>Roy Emerson <\/strong>(Qld) on the 50<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of his 1965 championship victory<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Simone Bolelli<\/strong> (ITA) and <strong>Fabio Fognini<\/strong> (ITA) claimed the men\u2019s doubles title, defeating French pair <strong>Pierre Hugues-Herbert<\/strong> and <strong>Nicolas Mahut<\/strong> 6-4 6-4<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bethanie Mattek-Sands<\/strong> (USA) and <strong>Lucie Safarova<\/strong> (CZE) took out the women\u2019s doubles, posting a 6-4 7-6(5) win over [14] <strong>Yung-Jan Chan<\/strong> (TPE) and <strong>Jie Zheng<\/strong> (CHN)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>7 seeds <strong>Martina Hingis<\/strong> (SUI) and <strong>Leander Paes<\/strong> (IND) took out the mixed doubles crown ahead of defending champions [3] <strong>Kristina Mladenovic<\/strong> (FRA) and <strong>Daniel Nestor<\/strong> (CAN) 6-4 6-3<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Unseeded <strong>Tereza Mihalikova<\/strong> (SVK) defeated [14] <strong>Katie Swan<\/strong> (GBR) 6-1 6-4 to win the girls\u2019 singles title<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Russian top seed <strong>Roman Safiullin<\/strong> won the boys\u2019 singles championship, defeating [7] <strong>Seong-chan Hong<\/strong> (KOR) 7-5 7-6(2)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fifteen <\/strong>Grand Slam champions contested the main singles draw: [1] <strong>Novak Djokovic <\/strong>(SRB), [2] <strong>Roger Federer <\/strong>(SUI), [3] <strong>Rafael Nadal <\/strong>(ESP), [4] <strong>Stanislas Wawrinka <\/strong>(SUI), [6] <strong>Andy Murray <\/strong>(GBR), <strong>Lleyton Hewitt <\/strong>(AUS), [1] <strong>Serena Williams <\/strong>(USA), [2] <strong>Maria Sharapova <\/strong>(RUS), [4] <strong>Petra Kvitova <\/strong>(CZE), [5] <strong>Ana Ivanovic <\/strong>(SRB), [18] <strong>Venus Williams <\/strong>(USA), [20] <strong>Samantha Stosur <\/strong>(AUS), <strong>Victoria Azarenka <\/strong>(BLR), <strong>Francesca Schiavone <\/strong>(ITA) and <strong>Svetlana Kuznetsova <\/strong>(RUS)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Forty-nine<\/strong> nations were represented among the <strong>256<\/strong> players competing in main draw singles. There were <strong>41<\/strong> countries represented in the men\u2019s singles, including 12 players from Spain, and <strong>34<\/strong> in the women\u2019s singles draw, including 16 players from the USA. The USA was the most represented nation overall, with 21 players in action<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A total of <strong>704 <\/strong>players competed across all events, including juniors, wheelies and legends<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Marius Copil<\/strong> (ROU) sent down the fastest serve of the tournament at <strong>242km\/h, <\/strong>while<strong> Milos Raonic <\/strong>(CAN) served the most aces of any player in the men\u2019s draw with <strong>114<\/strong> to his name<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Serena Williams<\/strong> (USA) posted the fastest serve in the women\u2019s draw at <strong>204km\/h <\/strong>and served the most aces of any female player with <strong>88<\/strong> in total<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Seventeen<\/strong> Australians took part in the main draw singles, with <strong>11<\/strong> players advancing to the second round, three to the third round, two to the fourth round and one to the quarterfinals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aussie <strong>Nick Kyrgios<\/strong> (ACT) won his way into the quarters with wins over <strong>Federico Delbonis<\/strong> (ARG), <strong>Ivo Karlovic<\/strong> (CRO), <strong>Malek Jaziri<\/strong> (TUN) and <strong>Andreas Seppi<\/strong> (ITA) before falling to [6] <strong>Andy Murray<\/strong> (GBR)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aussie juniors <strong>Jake Delaney<\/strong> (NSW) and <strong>Marc Polmans<\/strong> (Vic) overcame [8] <strong>Hubert Hurkacz<\/strong> (POL) and <strong>Alex Molcan<\/strong> (SVK) 0-6 6-2 [10-8] to take out their maiden Grand Slam boys\u2019 doubles crown<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Seventeen former top 10 players \u2013 including three former world No.1s: <strong>Mats Wilander <\/strong>(SWE), <strong>Martina Navratilova <\/strong>(USA) and <strong>Lindsay Davenport<\/strong> (USA) \u2013 contested the <strong>Big Mac Legends<\/strong> event<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Dylan Alcott <\/strong>(Vic) took out the quad wheelchair singles title, becoming the first Australian to win the competition. <strong>Shingo Kunieda <\/strong>(JPN) and <strong>Jiske Griffioen <\/strong>(NED) took out the men\u2019s and women\u2019s wheelchair singles titles respectively. Top seeds <strong>Shingo Kunieda<\/strong> (JPN) and <strong>Stephane Houdet<\/strong> (FRA) won the <strong>men\u2019s wheelchair doubles<\/strong>, while [1] <strong>Yui Kamiji <\/strong>(JPN) and <strong>Jordanne Whiley <\/strong>(GBR) claimed the <strong>women\u2019s wheelchair doubles<\/strong>. <strong>David Wagner <\/strong>(USA) teamed with <strong>Andrew Lapthorne <\/strong>(GBR) to win the <strong>quad wheelchair doubles<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Attendance<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A record <strong>703,899 <\/strong>fans flocked to Australian Open 2015, smashing the previous record of 686,006 set in 2012<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ten<\/strong> sessions attracted a record crowd, including a first Monday day\/night record of <strong>71,151<\/strong> The previous first Monday day\/night record of 63,595 fans was set in 2014<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Heineken Saturday on the middle weekend of the tournament was the busiest of the 2015 event, with <strong>81,031<\/strong> fans on site at Melbourne Park<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>More than <strong>1800 tennis fans<\/strong> sailed to Melbourne Park on P&amp;O Cruises\u2019 second annual Australian Open cruise<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Famous faces from across the sporting world to attend the event included: <strong>Adam Scott<\/strong>, <strong>Steve Smith, Steve Waugh, Lydia Lassila, Layne Beachley, Cameron Smith, Jimmy Bartel, Gary Ablett Jnr, Liz Cambage, Billy Slater, Ian Thorpe, Adam Goodes, David Hale, Liesel Jones<\/strong> and <strong>Sharelle McMahon<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Other famous faces in the crowd included: <strong>Eric Bana<\/strong>, <strong>Toni Collette<\/strong>, <strong>Geoffrey Rush, Magda Szubanski, Kate Ritchie<\/strong>, <strong>Ryan Corr<\/strong>, <strong>Josh Thomas<\/strong>, <strong>Carla Zampatti <\/strong>and <strong>Livinia Nixon, <\/strong>musicians <strong>Kenny Rogers, Niall Horan, Kate Ceberano<\/strong> and <strong>Natalie Bassingthwaite<\/strong>, celebrity chefs <strong>Heston Blumenthal <\/strong>and <strong>Matt Preston,<\/strong> Australian of the Year <strong>Rosie Batty<\/strong> along with finalist <strong>Deborra-Lee Furness<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fans on Grand Slam Oval were entertained by headline music acts <strong>Sneaky Sound System, Sheppard, Megan Washington, The Potbelleez, Daryl Braithwaite <\/strong>and more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Media<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>More than<\/strong> <strong>650 journalists, photographers and videographers<\/strong> from <strong>283 media outlets<\/strong> provided detailed coverage of the Australian Open, including <strong>296 <\/strong>international media from <strong>44 <\/strong>different countries. There were <strong>78 <\/strong>Asian media representatives on site, including <strong>37<\/strong> from Japan and <strong>25<\/strong> from China.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Tournament operations<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Wilson stringers hut restrung <strong>4763 racquets,<\/strong> using more than <strong>57km of string<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>71<\/strong> racquets were rapidly restrung for players during matches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>[1]<strong> Serena Williams<\/strong> (USA) had the most racquets restrung of all players in the main draw, sending <strong>86<\/strong> racquets to the stringers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matches were officiated by <strong>360 <\/strong>chair umpires, linespersons and Hawkeye reviewers from <strong>34 <\/strong> Approximately <strong>68 umpires<\/strong> and <strong>228 linespeople<\/strong> per day officiated matches in the early rounds of the tournament<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There were <strong>380 ballkids<\/strong> including <strong>327<\/strong> from Victoria, <strong>25<\/strong> from interstate, <strong>20<\/strong> from Korea, <strong>six<\/strong> from China and <strong>two<\/strong> from Singapore<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Players and celebrities including world No.3 <strong>Rafael Nadal<\/strong> (ESP), two-time Australian Open champion <strong>Victoria Azarenka<\/strong> (BLR), four-time men\u2019s singles champion <strong>Jim Courier <\/strong>(USA) and tennis legends <strong>Chris Evert <\/strong>(USA) and<strong> Goran Ivanisevic <\/strong>(CRO) participated in video interviews for <strong>Kia Open Drive. <\/strong>Videos can be viewed on the official <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL2RR--XMozwUXI_BM4oqYhFAfj_0_ykaR\">Australian Open YouTube channel<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>8412 <\/strong>staff, contractors and volunteers employed by <strong>Tennis Australia<\/strong>, <strong>Melbourne Olympic Parks Trust <\/strong>(MOPT) and catering suppliers <strong>Delaware North <\/strong>worked behind the scenes to deliver Australian Open 2015.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Community tennis<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Almost 14,500 fans<\/strong> attended the third annual <strong>Kids Tennis Day presented by Nickelodeon<\/strong> on Saturday 17 January, highlighted by the Rod Laver Arena Spectacular featuring <strong>Roger Federer <\/strong>(SUI),<strong> Ana Ivanovic <\/strong>(SRB),<strong> Victoria Azarenka <\/strong>(BLR),<strong> Eugenie Bouchard <\/strong>(CAN) and Australian rising stars <strong>Nick Kyrgios<\/strong> (ACT) and<strong> Thanasi Kokkinakis <\/strong>(SA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>More than 1000<\/strong> tennis fans played <strong>ANZ Tennis Hot Shots<\/strong> on Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena, show courts and multiple outside courts ahead of the day sessions during the tournament<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>More than 12,000 visitors<\/strong> played <strong>ANZ Tennis Hot Shots<\/strong> on Court 4 and on the mini courts in Garden Square including Australia\u2019s <strong>Bernard Tomic <\/strong>(Qld) and Australian test cricket captain<strong> Steve Smith<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>More than 30,000 people<\/strong> visited <strong>ANZ Fan Zone<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cardio Tennis<\/strong> showcases featured on Margaret Court Arena in front of thousands of fans for the first time prior to night matches during the tournament<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eight-year-old <strong>Anna Bishop<\/strong>, an ANZ Tennis Hot Shot of the Year nominee, had a hit of tennis on Rod Laver Arena with <strong>Novak Djokovic <\/strong>(SRB) and was part of the women\u2019s singles trophy presentation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the weeks leading up to Australian Open 2015<em>, <\/em>the brand new tennis format <strong>FAST4 <\/strong>was launched in Australia, first in Sydney with <strong>Roger Federer<\/strong> (SUI) and <strong>Lleyton Hewitt<\/strong> (SA) participating in <strong><em>One Night with Federer and Hewitt, <\/em><\/strong>then in Melbourne with <strong><em>Rafa\u2019s<\/em> <em>Summer Set<\/em>. <\/strong>Rafael Nadal (ESP) played FAST4 against <strong>Omar Jasika <\/strong>(Vic),<strong> Mark Philippoussis <\/strong>(Vic) and <strong>Fernando Verdasco <\/strong>(ESP) on Margaret Court Arena.<strong> John McEnroe<\/strong> and <strong>Patrick Rafter<\/strong> went head to head at the <strong>Apia International Sydney<\/strong>, while the <strong>Australian Open Big Mac Legends<\/strong> tournament also featured the FAST4 format<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>More than 7000<\/strong> kids and parents enjoyed a <strong>Disney <\/strong>experience over the last three days of the tournament. Hisense Arena was transformed into a magical family experience, featuring the much loved Disney and Disney-Pixar worlds of <strong>Never Land<\/strong> (Disney Fairies and Jake the Never Land Pirate), <strong>Arendelle<\/strong> (Frozen), <strong>Radiator Springs<\/strong> (Cars), <strong>Andy\u2019s Room<\/strong> (Toy Story) and <strong>San Fransokyo<\/strong> (Big Hero 6)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/news-and-events\/events\/ao-tennis-blitz\/town-leaderboard\">AO Tennis Blitz<\/a> matched up tennis-loving towns around Australia with all 256 main draw singles players. Women\u2019s champion <strong>Serena Williams <\/strong>(USA) was supported throughout her Australian Open 2015 campaign by <strong>Casino, NSW<\/strong>. Men\u2019s champion <strong>Novak Djokovic<\/strong> (SRB) was supported by <strong>Kendall, NSW<\/strong>. Towns \u2018won\u2019 a player by completing tennis challenges in the lead-up to the event<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Australian tennis great <strong>Neale Fraser<\/strong> was honoured at the annual Legends Lunch. Fraser was joined at the celebratory event by fellow legends of the sport <strong>Rod Laver<\/strong>, <strong>Roy Emerson<\/strong>, <strong>Ken Rosewall<\/strong>, <strong>John Newcombe<\/strong>, <strong>Evonne Goolagong-Cawley<\/strong>, <strong>Martina Navratilova <\/strong>and many more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Digital and social media<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Before the men\u2019s final there were <strong>more than<\/strong> <strong>5 million<\/strong> unique visitors to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ausopen.com\">ausopen.com<\/a> throughout the tournament period<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The most popular female players of the event were <strong>Madison Keys<\/strong> (212,748 player profile views), <strong>Eugenie Bouchard<\/strong> (198,381), <strong>Serena Williams<\/strong> (195,585), <strong>Maria Sharapova<\/strong> (176,404) and <strong>Ekaterina Makarova<\/strong> (129,614). The most popular male players were <strong>Nick Kyrgios<\/strong> (208,863), <strong>Novak Djokovic<\/strong> (180,102), <strong>Rafael Nadal<\/strong> (159,638), <strong>Roger Federer<\/strong> (153,255) and <strong>Andy Murray<\/strong> (128,000)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AustralianOpen\">Australian Open Facebook page<\/a> grew to<strong> 1,549,586 likes <\/strong>and attracted <strong>more than 1.4 million<\/strong> total engagements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On Twitter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AustralianOpen\">@australianopen<\/a> grew to <strong>711,319 followers<\/strong>. The most retweeted #ausopen post was <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jnarls\">@jnarls<\/a>\u2019 video link: \u201cWe&#8217;re ready for you \u2013 Australian Open 2015&#8243;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The official <strong>Australian Open App<\/strong> was downloaded <strong>1,199,509 times<\/strong> across iPhone, iPad and Android devices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For two weeks the world\u2019s top tennis players have excited and delighted fans at Melbourne Park. &nbsp; Now, as top seeds Serena Williams (USA) and Novak Djokovic (SRB) celebrate their Grand Slam victories, we look back at Australian Open 2015. \u00a0 On-court action World No.1 and tournament top seed Serena Williams (USA) won her sixth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}