In the coming weeks we will bring you the story of Todd Woodbridge becoming the first player to win an official match at the National Tennis Centre at Flinders Park.
It was the first round of Australian Open 1988, and Woodbridge, then only 16 years old, won convincingly on Court 10 – one of a group of eastern precinct courts which no longer exist.
That match was almost 36 years ago, and in the time since, the venue now known as Melbourne Park has changed significantly to how it looked when it debuted as the AO’s new home.
1988: A National Tennis Centre unveiled
That new home was required because the Australian Open outgrew the small, aging facilities at suburban Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.
The Victorian government in 1985 identified Flinders Park as the site of a new National Tennis Centre, a $94 million project to be completed in two stages.
The first stage was completed in 1987 ahead of the next year’s Australian Open. The jewel in its crown was a near-15,000 Centre Court with a revolutionary retractable roof, allowing for play in all conditions.
The National Tennis Centre also featured a 6000-seat secondary stadium (Court 1) and 3000-seat Court 2, plus match courts 8-20, located at the eastern end of Flinders Park.
In its grass-court days at Kooyong, the Australian Open was considered a distant fourth in terms of prestige, size and scale among the Grand Slam tournaments.
But with the tournament relaunched as a hard-court event at its new home, its status rose.
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Compared with AO 1987, it attracted almost double the number of spectators (266,436) and the facility received near-universal praise.
“The loss of grass was generally forgotten in the excitement of so many foreign players and international tennis writers descending on Melbourne Park for the first tournament held there in January 1988,” recalled late tennis writer Alan Trengove in The Australian Open Book.
“Everyone lavished praise on the new citadel.”
That included women’s legend Chris Evert, a finalist in 1988.
“It’s pretty close,” she replied when asked if it was the world’s best tennis complex, comments printed in The Age at the time.
“I think it’s been beautifully built for the players and spectators.”
1996: Significant expansion
The Australian Open continued to grow, and ahead of the 1996 tournament, the second stage of the National Tennis Centre was completed.
This saw the complex practically double in size; it now included an additional 3000-seat arena (Show Court 3) and Garden Square, a grassed plaza complete with a giant screen for fans to watch the action.
A group of match courts were also added to the western end of the precinct.
Australian Open 1996 saw another milestone, reflecting the event’s growth – it was this year the tournament was granted ranking points equal to the other three majors.
It was also in 1996 that Flinders Park was renamed Melbourne Park.
2001: A second roofed stadium
As the Australian Open entered a new millennium, progress continued.
In 2000, the opening of the city’s new “multi-purpose venue” at Melbourne Park – a 10,500 seat arena designed to host tennis, cycling, basketball and netball, plus other sports and concerts – would mean another major showcourt for the Australian Open.
Several eastern courts were removed in 1998 – and added to the western end of the precinct in time for AO 1999 – to make way for the new stadium which debuted in tennis mode at AO 2001. This expanded the tournament’s footprint eastward and gave it a second roofed arena.
Monica Seles won the first tennis match there, a stadium then known as Vodafone Arena. It has since been renamed John Cain Arena.
2010: Major redevelopment begins
The Victorian government announced sweeping redevelopment plans for Melbourne Park, which were to be completed in three stages over the next decade and made possible by almost $1 billion of funding.
Stage One began in May 2010 and was to be completed in time for Australian Open 2015.
A challenge, successfully met, was to ensure works continued without interrupting the tournament; the 2011-2014 editions were played in what was effectively a construction zone.
But those attending would barely have noticed, with works staggered and the site cleverly zoned to ensure fans could move easily through Melbourne Park while players still had access to plentiful match and practice courts.
The completion of the new National Tennis Centre in late 2012 – a state-of-the-art training facility further east of John Cain Arena, with a mix of indoor and outdoor courts – expanded Melbourne Park further while improving player practice facilities for AO 2013.
2015: Margaret Court Arena reborn
Stage One of the redevelopment concluded with the unveiling of the new-look Margaret Court Arena, known as Show Court 1 until 2003.
The stadium’s capacity was boosted from 6000 to 7500 seats while a retractable roof had been added, giving Melbourne Park a third roofed court.
This was unprecedented for a tennis tournament and meant more than 30,000 fans could continue to watch tennis, regardless of the weather conditions.
At Australian Open 2015, the first match at the newly-completed arena saw Australian Jarmila Gajdosova defeat Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania for her first AO main-draw win.
2022: KIA Arena completes the picture
The redevelopment continued through its second and third stages, completely reshaping the look, feel and function of Melbourne Park.
There were new entrances, access points and connections and new office and function spaces, plus upgrades to existing infrastructure.
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This included Rod Laver Arena, which benefited from redesigned entrances and concourse, new seats, and upgrades to the roof – which now takes just 10 minutes to close.
The third and final stage was completed in time for Australian Open 2022, which saw KIA Arena – a sleek, sunken, 5000-seat stadium – debut as a showcourt.
Belinda Bencic won the first match played there, but it became better known as the stage on which Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios flourished. The Aussies upset seeds in their second- and third-round matches there, plus their quarterfinal, on their way to the men’s doubles title.
The redevelopment also saw the reconfiguration of outside courts.
The eastern courts, trimmed from 13 to eight with the construction of John Cain Arena, now number just two (Courts 16-17) after the construction of KIA Arena.
The western courts numbered eight when they were constructed for Australian Open 1996, grew to 12 during Stage One of the redevelopment, and are now a group of 10. Some were removed to make way for the Tanderrum Bridge, opened in time for AO 2017 and better connecting Melbourne Park with Birrarung Marr.