MELBOURNE, February 22, 2020 (Australian Open Press Release)
A tournament like no other, played in front of 130,374 fans, has seen Novak Djokovic (SRB) and Naomi Osaka (JPN) crowned the Australian Open singles champions for 2021.
AO 2021 champions
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) claimed a record ninth Australian Open men’s title and his 18th Grand Slam defeating [4] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 7-5 6-2 6-2
[3] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated [22] Jennifer Brady (USA) 6-4 6-3 to win her fourth Grand Slam title and second Australian Open women’s singles championship
[2] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) / Elise Mertens (BEL) defeated [3] Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) / Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-2 6-3 to win their first Australian Open women’s doubles title
[9] Ivan Dodig (CRO) / Filip Polasek (SVK) claimed their first Grand Slam title defeating [5] Rajeev Ram (USA) / Joe Salisbury (GBR)
[6] Rajeev Ram (USA) / Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) defeated [WC] Matt Ebden / Sam Stosur (AUS) 6-1 6-4 to claim the pair’s second Australian Open mixed doubles title in two years
Joachim Gerard (BEL) won his first Grand Slam title, defeating Alfie Hewett (GBR) 6-0 4-6 6-4 in the men’s wheelchair singles final
[1] Diede de Groot (NED) defeated [2] Yui Kamiji (JPN) 6-3 6-7(4) [10-4] to win the women’s wheelchair singles title and claim her third Australian Open trophy
[1] Diede de Groot (NED) / Aniek van Koot (NED) and [1] Gordon Reid (GBR) / Alfie Hewett (GBR) won the women’s and men’s wheelchair doubles titles respectively
[1] Dylan Alcott (AUS) defeated Sam Schroder (NED) 6-1 6-0 to claim his seventh consecutive Australia Open quad singles title
Australians [1] Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson won their fourth straight Australian Open quad doubles title.
AO 2021 competitors
A total of 494 players from 62 nations competed across all events, including qualifying, singles, doubles and wheelchair
The nation with the most competitors was the USA with 47 players
46 Australians took part in the Australian Open, Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson both claiming titles in the quad division
23 Aussies took part in main draw singles with 12 players advancing to the second round, three into the third round including Ash Barty who advanced to the women’s quarterfinals
117 players from eight Asia-Pacific nations competed across all events, including qualifying, singles, doubles and wheelchair.
On-court action
The Tennis Australia Game Insights Group analysed:
· 233,335 shots of ball tracking data
· 43,651 points of scoring data
· 6948 games
· 733 sets of tennis
Novak Djokovic (SRB) served the most aces in the men’s draw with 103 to his name
Australian Open 2021 champion Naomi Osaka (JPN) served the most aces of any female player with 50 aces in total
Gael Monfils (FRA) and Reilly Opelka (USA) both sent down the fastest serve of the tournament at 232km/h
Serena Williams (USA) set a new AO Women’s Record for the fastest serve of 203km/h in the third set of her second round match against Nina Stojanovic (SRB)
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov broke the AO Men’s Record for fastest backhand at 163.2km/h
Three AO Physical Records were broken during the tournament, Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) expended the most energy with 133KJ and covered the largest distance covered of 0.11km during a single point while Elina Svitolina (UKR) set the highest hitting load of 22 for a point
147 players broke their AO shot speed record including Novak Djokovic (SRB) who hit his fastest serve 209.6 km/h and forehand 164.1 km/h, Daniil Medvedev (RUS) hit his fastest return at 151.0 km/h, forehand 162.5 km/h and backhand 146.3 km/h, Naomi Osaka (JPN) hit her fastest serve at 200.8 km/h while Jennifer Brady (USA) hit her fastest serve 191.1 km/h and forehand 150.1 km/h. Aussie Ash Barty hit her fastest serve at 187.9 km/h and forehand at 148.9 km/h
252 AO Personal Physical Records were set at AO 2021 including 76 at point level, 66 at game level, 56 at set level and 54 at match level
Aussie Nick Kyrgios set a new game level player record with 440KJ of total work, covering 0.32km in distance and 17 high intensity changes
Naomi Osaka (JPN) set a new set level player record with 26 high intensity changes
Jennifer Brady (USA) set new game level player record for 366KJ of total work, 0.35km of total distance travelled and a hitting load of 125.
Non-live content
The AO Media team produced more than 355 content pieces which were downloaded by broadcasters 6370 times up 63% on 2020
The AO Media team launched the AO Director’s Chair which uses 360° immersive technology via the Oculus Quest headset and the choice of 12 camera angles inside Rod Laver Arena
There were 37,204,483 views on AO YouTube and 87,487,753 minutes watched
Live broadcast programming
There was a total of 21 courts with live cameras across Melbourne Park including 16 match courts and five practice courts
There was commentary on five courts: Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena, John Cain Arena, 1573 Arena and Court 3
The international commentary team featured world renowned and leading tennis experts including Mark Petchey, John Fitzgerald, Sam Stosur, Mark Philippoussis, Brad Stine, Colin Fleming, Alison Mitchell, Louise Pleming, Wally Masur, Roger Rasheed, Jill Craybas, Nicole Pratt, Josh Eagle, Robbie Koenig, Nicole Bradtke, Liz Smylie, Geoff Masters and Stephanie Brantz
Broadcast innovations included Augmented Reality graphics and integrated statistics from the Game Insight Group and two other data feeds
More than 150 cameras around the site gave fans more access than ever before
FlyCam was back covering almost 400 metres across the venue
The RLA walk on this year featured 104 special LED digital banners and two dedicated LED screens
Augmented crowd FX and specially designed seat covers transformed the stadiums and coverage during the five-day lockdown
The World Feed live program was fully hosted for the first time from a dedicated studio inside Rod Laver Arena featuring touchscreen analytics.
Domestic broadcast
Nine Network has dominated the ratings for the last fortnight attracting more than 10.9 million viewers despite the move to February
Nick Kyrgios’ five-set loss to Austrian Dominic Thiem was the highest watched non-news program of 2021 with a national peak of 1.8 million and average audience of 1.27 million
More than 57.5 million hours have been viewed across all sessions over the first 13 days
Cumulatively more than 224.3 million minutes have been streamed online via 9now up 21% on 2020. 162.5 million of these have been simulcast up 18%.
International broadcast
AO 2021 aired live in more than 210 territories on 50+ TV channels, reaching more than 900 million homes daily
All 16 match courts streamed online in more than 115 territories via Nine, iQIYI in China, Sony in India, Eurosport in Europe and ESPN in the Americas
Chinese, national, free to air broadcaster CCTV increased coverage hours over 85% in week one reaching over 400 million households daily
Across its top 11 markets in Europe, Eurosport’s linear coverage saw an uplift in average audience numbers with Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2 registering a 41% and 28% increase respectively in the first week
Additional coverage in Europe provided by MATCH TV (Russia), SSR/SRG (Switzerland), Servus TV (Austria), and BBC (UK – highlights)
In the US, the most viewed telecast on ESPN was Serena Williams vs Naomi Osaka peaked at 1.6 million
The World Feed streamed live on ausopen.com in more than 50 territories including Argentina, Brazil and Mexico
All the key stories of each day, on-and-off the court, have aired on thousands of TV channels and online portals around the world via international news agencies including SNTV, Thomson Reuters, and JSNA (Japan Sports News Association)
On radio, live coverage is provided every day by BBC Radio to the UK audience, Sirius XM in the USA, domestic radio broadcaster SEN, and selected matches on NRK Radio in Norway.
Reaching global audiences through content
Top 5 countries reached through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were Australia, United States, India, United Kingdom and Japan
There have been 88.8 million impressions on Instagram, 150 million on Twitter and 65.9 million on Facebook
Top Instagram post: Tsitsipas beats Rafa Nadal – 780k impressions
Top Tweet: Rafa Nadal post match – 3.2m impressions
Top Facebook post: Naomi Osaka | Australian Open Day 13 Final On-Court Interview… – 964k reach
More than 300 frames have been published as part of the AO Instagram Stories contributing to 25% of the overall impressions on the channel.
Deeper global engagement of tennis fans
The ausopen.com website delivered over 18 million sessions
The website was most popular in Australia, United States, Canada, India and United Kingdom
There were more than 6 million video views on the AO app and website
19% increase in news article features on ausopen.com page views
The official AO app had more than 1 million installs
4 out of 5 star rating for AO app on Google Play store.
Connecting with local audiences
AO has 2,369,017 followers on Weibo and 62,485 on WeChat
Individual local language posts achieved upwards of 50K views.
Connecting with new audiences
64% of total video minutes viewed on Facebook were by users who do not follow the AO page
One-minute video views increased by more than 30% on 2020 to 1.1 million
On Instagram, Naomi Osaka post match ceremony after the Women’s finals reached 29% of non-followers
A new TikTok channel for AO 2021 was launched with 53.9 million #ausopen searches
Top performing TikTok post: Serena – 2.4 million views.
Technology and tournament operations
110 Terabytes of data was transferred around the world from Melbourne Park during the tournament with a further 40 Terabytes of data received
60km of data cabling and 20km of fibre cabling was installed
There were more than 190,000 accreditation scans.
There were 147 total umpires including 96 Australians and 51 internationals from 27 nations
380 Australian Open ballkids from Victoria took part in the event. An all-girl ballkid squad featured on Rod Laver Arena during the quarterfinals
68,616 Dunlop tennis balls and 52,000 towels were used
More than 3000 player laundry bags washed.
Partners
Kia and the Australian Open celebrated their 20th anniversary as major partners, having joined forces in 2002
Australian tennis stars Dylan Alcott and Nick Kyrgios officially handed over the fleet of 130 Kia courtesy cars to Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley before the tournament
For the first time ever, the Kia AO fleet also included a collection of award winning Kia Niro Hybrid electric vehicles
334 unique videos were produced for AO Partners from over 219 shoots equating to 400 hours of filming
102 videos were produced exclusively for the AO Virtual Hub powered by Infosys
Ralph Lauren dressed tournament staff and the ballkid squad
Initial provided 800 touchless hand sanitiser and disinfection wipe stations across the AO precinct, using more than 3000 litres of hand sanitiser.
AO Quarantine Program
1016 people quarantined in Melbourne and Adelaide from 14 January including 966 in Melbourne and 50 in Adelaide
They arrived on 17 chartered flights from Doha, Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles, Singapore and Dubai
AO Tournament Director Craig Tiley held 88 zoom calls with players, agents, tours and international workforce members between 27 August and 12 February
Four quarantine hubs were created at Melbourne Park and Albert Reserve with 40 specialised gyms to service the players during their 14 days of quarantine
5757 practice sessions comprising of 2 hours of court time, 90 minutes in the gym and 30 minutes of nutrition were held as part of the special AO Quarantine program in Melbourne
Elevators at the three hotels in Melbourne were cleaned 12,480 times after every participant movement an example of the strict Infection Prevention and Control measures in place.
COVID-19 Testing
12,543 tests were administered in Adelaide and Melbourne during quarantine
Eight infectious positives were identified (one player, not including airline crew) less than 0.065% of the total tests
321 people were deemed close contacts by the Victorian Chief Health Officer (includes airline crew). 188 were AO related, 72 players including two wheelchair athletes, 31 WTA players and 39 ATP players
Following quarantine, a further 1471 tests were administered including more than 500 tests conducted over a period of less than 12 hours following a CQV worker’s positive test result.
Contact tracing at AO 2021
More than 220 RFID readers were installed across the Melbourne Park precinct to assist with contact tracing
More than 25,000 RFID tags were allocated, resulting in seven million reads across the precinct.
Blockbuster lead-in to AO 2021
Australian Open qualifying was hosted offshore for the first time
The innovative solution saw 128 men compete in Doha, Qatar and 128 women compete in Dubai, UAE for sixteen qualifying spots each respectively
A Day at the Drive, the official curtain raiser to the Australian summer of tennis featured eight players, including Ash Barty (AUS) Novak Djokovic (SRB), Serena Williams (USA), Rafael Nadal (ESP), Dominic Thiem (AUT), Simona Halep (ROU), Naomi Osaka (JPN), and Jannik Sinner (ITA)
The one-off event was held at Memorial Drive Tennis Centre in Adelaide on Friday 29 January
The biggest ever lead-in week to the Australian Open featured a total of six events all held at Melbourne Park
The 2021 ATP Cup saw 14 of the top 15 players represent 12 teams in the group stages
Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aslan Karatsev and Evgeny Donskoy won the second edition of the event for Team Russia
The Melbourne Summer Series saw more than 250 players compete across three WTA 500 and two ATP 250 tournaments
The tournaments were named to showcase six key regions of Victoria and to promote the reinvigoration of the state following the challenges of 2020, due to both the devastating bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. They included:
· Three WTA 500 events: Gippsland Trophy, Yarra Valley Classic and Grampians Trophy
· Two ATP 250 events: Great Ocean Road Open and Murray River Open
An additional WTA 250 event the Phillip Island Trophy was held during the second week of the Australian Open
The Adelaide International, a WTA 500 is the final event of the Australian summer swing and begins on Monday.
AO Media Hub
The AO Media Hub was a one-stop shop for accredited media and broadcasters to cover the event from anywhere in the world
The online platform provided access to watch any match on any court across Melbourne Park, participate in live media conferences as well tap into match statistics, colour vision and photos
782 journalists and photographers from 56 nations reported on AO 2021
176 media attended the tournament in person including 17 international representatives from 10 nations. A further 699 media representatives had digital accreditation to access the AO Media Hub
There were 515 broadcast representatives including 92 internationals and 291 domestic
A total of 1359 media conferences were held during the tournament including main interview room, one-to-one interviews and remote broadcast interviews
16 tournament photographers helped capture more than 31,259 photos uploaded to a new AO photo hub.
AO Player Content Concierge service
The AO Player Content Concierge team provided more than 6000 pieces of content directly to AO players to post on their social media channels
407 photos and videos were posted generating $12 million in media value for the AO (up from $7.5 million in 2020).
Behind the Line
The Australian Open honoured Australians who save and protect lives by featuring the voices of community heroes for the tournament’s Live Electronic Line Calling
The Behind the Line project used pre-recorded voices for the terms ‘Out’ and ‘Fault’ to acknowledge Australia’s community champions including front-line workers in the nation’s pandemic response, firefighters, surf life savers, and other emergency services personnel
Featured voices included: Steven Gelagotis – Ambulance Victoria Paramedic (Vic), Stuart Williams – Victoria Police First Constable (Vic), Tanya Brooks – Victoria Police Sergeant (Vic), David Hadlow – Fremantle Sea Rescue Rescue Skipper (WA), Kate Gillham – Volunteer Firefighter (Tas), Reanna Sanders – Aunty’s Free Feeds (NT), Jackie Rousseau – Royal Life Saving Program Developer (ACT), Dana Mitchell – Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park (SA) and Simon Merrick – NSW SES Cluster Commander (NSW).
AO on the Road
The Norman Brookes Challenge Cup and Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup travelled 3008.2 kilometres across regional Victoria
The trophies stopped at more than 30 Victorian towns and iconic locations, with ambassadors including Todd Woodbridge, Sam Groth and John Fitzgerald
Places visited included Ocean Grove, Warrnambool, Stawell, Bendigo, Bright, Red Hill, Geelong, Lorne, Torquay, Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Bells Beach, 12 Apostles, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Glenrowan, Myrtleford, Beechworth, Wodonga, Alpine Trout Farm, Warragul, Neerim Junction, Dromana, Red Hill, Laura and Point Leo Restaurant, Hawkes Farm and Panorama Garden Estate
Eleven tennis clubs received a visit from the two iconic trophies
The initiative was part of Tennis Australia’s commitment to using the Australian Open as a platform to assist in the reinvigoration of Victoria following a difficult 2020 where so many in regional areas were affected by both the devastating bushfires and the pandemic
AO on the Road toured Victoria throughout January and was distributed to more than 20 broadcasters across more than 200 territories as part of their tournament coverage.
Community tennis
More than 30,000 kids across Australia participated in AO Holiday Programs in the lead up to the Australian Open
More than 100 ANZ Tennis Hot Shots kids tossed the coin for main draw singles matches
18 kids had the chance to virtually meet and greet players including Naomi Osaka (JPN), Daniil Medvedev (RUS), Donna Vekic (CRO), Grigor Dimitrov (BUL), Sofia Kenin (USA) and Jordan Thompson (AUS)
50 school children had the opportunity to visit Melbourne to watch the tennis at John Cain Arena
One Brisbane school spoke to wildcard Kimberly Birrell to take a behind the scenes look at the Australian Open
Casual court bookings in Australia grew by 95% in 2019-2020
626,089 kids participated in ANZ Tennis Hot Shots during the same period
Tennis was the number one requested sport by primary and secondary schools in Sport Australia’s Sporting Schools initiative in 2020
A total of 3414 schools deliver tennis as part of their health and physical education curriculum
More than 75% of the Australian population now have access to online court bookings through play.tennis.com.au
The AO once again hosted the Glam Slam an LGBTQ+ tennis tournament with the finals held on Court 3 at Melbourne Park
Australian singles champion in 1956 and 1959, Mary Carter Reitano was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.
AO Inspirational Series
Former Australian Prime Minister and current Beyond Blue Chair Julia Gillard was the special guest and keynote speaker for the annual AO Inspirational Series presented by ANZ on women’s semifinal day. Gillard joined the lunch virtually
The AO Inspirational Series has a reputation for attracting distinguished high-profile international guest speakers, including trailblazer Billie Jean King, publishing and fashion icon Anna Wintour and Hollywood star and outspoken equality advocate Rebel Wilson
This was the sixth edition of the event, the brainchild of Craig Tiley, a passionate advocate for gender equality and a founding member of the Male Champions of Change.
Entertainment
Music acts playing acoustic pop up gigs included Missy Higgins, James Reyne, G-Flip, Julia Stone, The Living End and Something For Kate
First nations performer Mitch Tambo kicked off opening night with a performance of the John Farnham classic You’re The Voice in local language and English
The women’s final pre-match ceremony included a performance of the Helen Reddy hit I Am Woman by Australian music legend Debbie Byrne, Angie Hart of Frente fame and Indigenous singer Chenile Chandler
Singer Gordi who last year gave up performing to go back to her career as a medical doctor and worked on the frontline fighting the pandemic, performed the National Anthem for the women’s and men’s finals
The cast of Tony Award winning musical Come From Away performed before the men’s final in the pre-match ceremony.
Art Community Engagement Project
Melbourne Park was transformed into a contemporary art gallery during the tournament with 15 well-known Australian artists commissioned to create inspiring installations
The Art Community Engagement Project included large-scale street art and digital installations featured across the site including on staircases, precinct entrances, around the courts, on Grand Slam Oval and along walkways and ramps
The artists included David Lee Pereira – famous for painting agricultural silos – who created two mini silos for the tournament, Nixi Killick whose work includes designs for Lady Gaga, David ‘Meggs” Hooke from House Of Megg and renowned for his street murals, Mike Makatron and well known indigenous artist Arkie
Artist Paink, completed stunning murals live throughout the tournament of Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Ash Barty.
Food and hospitality
Australian Open 2021 featured an ambitious and inventive line-up of food, wine and premium experiences, featuring 10 local renowned chefs to cater for every taste
The food and hospitality outlets were spread across the three spectator zones at Melbourne Park – Rod Laver Arena Zone, Margaret Court Arena Zone and John Cain Arena Zone, as well as at The Glasshouse across the road from Melbourne Park
AO Chef Series: The acclaimed AO Chef Series was all about supporting regional Victoria in 2021. The four talented chefs included Mark Briggs from Sardine Eatery and Bar in Gippsland, Michael Ryan from Provenance in Beechworth, Phil Wood from Laura at Point Leo Estate on the Mornington Peninsula and Jo Barrett, formerly from Oakridge Winery in the Yarra Valley. Each chef created a bespoke menu that showcased local produce
Atlas Dining by Charlie Carrington: Charlie Carrington transformed The Glasshouse for the final three days of the tournament with an Australian-themed menu
The Penfolds Conservatory: For the first time in Penfolds 176-year history, the iconic Australian brand had a stand-alone restaurant at a sporting event. The menu heroed seasonal summer ingredients accompanied by Penfolds white and red wines
The Atrium at AO River Terrace: Relocating to the AO River Terrace with great views of the Yarra River. Well-known Melbourne chef Scott Pickett of Matilda fame created an exclusive menu
The Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Bar: This intimate new bar took centre stage on the Rod Laver Arena Terrace
Grainshaker Australian Vodka Bar: The new Official Vodka of the Australian Open Grainshaker served cocktails, vodka and wine in beautiful position at Melbourne Park. Grainshaker had a presence across the precinct, including the COVIDSafe dining pods
Rockpool: Rockpool was one of the highlights of the AO Dining Precinct at The Glasshouse. Renowned for its commitment to sustainable and local produce, attention to detail and the finest execution, Rockpool, and the Rockpool Dining Group, is one of the most awarded restaurant empires in Australia.
Action Audio
Tennis Australia worked with Monash University and AKQA to deliver Action Audio, a world-first accessible audio stream for fans with blindness or low vision
The online audio stream was designed to make the broadcast of the Australian Open 2021 finals accessible to almost 600,000 Australians and 285 million people living with blindness or a vision impairment.
