The 2017 Australian Open will soon begin. It’s not a complete field with Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka out, but it’s still an impressive collection of tennis talent which offers the promise of rich drama at the start of the tennis season. All eyes will be on defending champion and World No. 1 Angelique Kerber, plus 22-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, but some players are gunning for a first Grand Slam title, which would be a huge global story in its own right.
The competition in the 128-player main draw begins on Monday, January 16, in Melbourne.
Event Details
Event: Australian Open
Category: ITF (International Tennis Federation) Grand Slam
Date: January 16-29, 2017
Location: Melbourne Park – Melbourne, Australia
With a prize money allotment of just over $37.5 million, WTA professionals can make a boatload of money and collect a large amount of rankings points with a great fortnight Down Under. The money for qualifying winners, first-round losers, and second-round losers has increased over last year, and this purse keeps going up at all levels. The major tournaments are a gold mine for the players who do well in them, and this is the place where any professional tennis player can make the kind of money which helps finance the rest of the season. There is not a lot of money at the WTA International level or at the Challenger level, and many people in tennis think that less money should be put into the Slams so that more money can be put into the Challenger circuit and the smaller tour events during the year. However, under the current situation, doing well at the Slams is what really propels a season in terms of earnings and rankings points.
Points
Championship – 2,000 points.
Runner-up – 1,300
Semifinal – 780
Quarterfinal – 430
Round of 16 – 240
Round of 32 – 130
Round of 64 – 70
Round of 128 – 10 points
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016 – Angelique Kerber def. Serena Williams – 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
2015 – Serena Williams def. Maria Sharapova – 6-3, 7-6
2014 – Li Na def. Dominika Cibulkova – 7-6, 6-0
2013 – Victoria Azarenka def. Li Na – 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
2012 – Victoria Azarenka def. Maria Sharapova – 6-3, 6-0
Australian Open Player Info:
Serena Williams goes for Grand Slam championship number 23, which would break a tie with Steffi Graf for second all-time and would put Serena within one of Margaret Court’s record of 24. However, Court’s 24 titles were achieved partly before the Open Era of professional tennis, so Graf’s 22 represent the Open Era mark. Serena would cross a big threshold if she can break through this fortnight. Her game is rusty – she lost in the warm-up event before this tournament – and she has a brutal draw, with Belinda Bencic in the first round, followed by Lucie Safarova in the second round (should Safarova advance). Yet, she is Serena. She should still be trusted to make a very deep run.
Angelique Kerber, the new World No. 1, will be under great pressure to deliver a 2017 close to her 2016. Winning two majors might be tough to repeat, but if she wins at least one more Slam event this year, Kerber will likely be happy with her progress. Nevertheless, everyone will be gunning for her in Melbourne. This will not be a cakewalk.
Garbine Muguruza is a woman of mystery. She won the French Open last year after making the Wimbledon final in 2015, but those deep runs at Slams didn’t translate into consistent year-long performances. What version of Muguruza will show up in Australia? It’s anyone’s guess.
Karolina Pliskova, having won Brisbane, is clearly still playing strong tennis after her surge which began last August and nearly plucked the U.S. Open title from Kerber. Pliskova suddenly found a way to play her game without succumbing to pressure. She did this at Cincinnati and then at the U.S. Open. She managed to sustain that level of play and shows every sign of being able to do so this year. She is now a frontline contender, not merely a dark horse.
Melbourne Park
The Australian Open has been played at Melbourne Park since 1988 after being held on grass at Kooyong’s famed Lawn Tennis Club in the previous several decades. Melbourne Park is a highly-modernized facility with a centerpiece court, Rod Laver Arena, which creates a first-class experience for fans and players every year.
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