The history of the Australian Open has its origin in 1905. On November 17 of that year, in
the Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground in Melbourne, began the first edition of the Australasian Championship, as it was called at the time. The champion was Rodney Health, who beat Arthur Curtis 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
Although it is conspicuous, just 17 years later the tournament had the women’s branch. The Victoria State Intercolonial Tennis Championships They already included them in the contests since 1886, but the Australasian Championship did not have a women’s version until 1922.
The explanation is leadership: there was an agreement between the Australian states and the Federation of New Zealand, which organized the Intercolonial Championships, to keep women under that umbrella and not within the Australasian Federation. In 1922, on the contrary, the different branches were included in the same structure.
Until that moment there were only two Australian players who had performed in Grand Slam tournaments: Marion Lillian Addison, who had reached the second round of Wimbledon in 1919, and Sylvia Lance, who arrived at the same instance, also in England, in 1920.
In 1922, then, at the White City Stadium in Sydney, the first comprehensive edition was held with all the modalities: female-male singles, female-male doubles and mixed doubles. Among a total of 17 players, all Australians, the first singles champion was Maud Margaret Mutch Molesworth.
Born in Brisbane, in 1894, Molesworth had learned to play tennis with his father. When she turned 20, in 1914, she was already one of the most outstanding tennis players in Australia and the protagonist of a myth: She was the first female player to hit the ball harder than the boys.
Eight years later, as first seeded in the inaugural edition, played in November, Molesworth did not disappoint. Owner of a varied game that allowed her to hit blows with different effects, he stacked up all the rivals even in the final, instance in which he won 6-3 and 10-8 against Esna Boyd, later a finalist in six editions and champion in 1927. The following year the tournament took place in August, on the lawn of Brisbane’s Milton Courts, with twelve Australian players. The first champion defended her title against the same rival: again he beat Esna Boyd, this time 6-1 and 7-5.
Only in 1969, the first year since the origin of the Open Era (1968), the tournament was renamed the Australian Open, with the integration of professional tennis players. Those first editions were held in different venues until in 1972 the decision was made that the tournament would be established in Kooyong Stadium, southeast of Melbourne. Since 1973 there were seven champions were Australians: Margaret Smith (1973), Evonne Goolagong (1974, 1975, 1976, and the December 1977 issue), Kerry Melville (1st of 1977) and Chris O’Neill (1978). The seguidilla contrasts with the drought: since 1978 there are no local champions in Australia. The last one to reach the final was Wendy Turnbull in 1980 -fell in straight sets against the Czech Hana Mandlíková-.
In 1988 the date of December and the grass as a surface were buried: since then the tournament is played at Melbourne Park, on the hard courts that are known in the present. In a nutshell: No Australian player was crowned in the current conditions, which took the tournament to another dimension.
Ashley Barty, the fabulous world number one who seems to win games without flinching, is called to take on the double legacy: to consecrate in the centenary edition and recover the throne that Chris O’Neil occupied 44 years ago, the first woman in the Open Era to win in Australia as an underdog (111th).
Born 25 years ago in Ipswich, in the State of Queensland, Barty was already a semifinalist in the 2020 edition, just before the pandemic. In that edition he lost in two sets against American Sofia Kenin.
This time, however, Barty seems unstoppable. So far she has won her five matches without giving up sets: she successively beat the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (119th); the Italians Lucia Bronzetti (142nd) and Camila Georgi (33rd); the Americans Amanda Anisimova (60th) and Jesica Pegula (21st). MadisonKeys, another American, will be his rival this Thursday in the semifinals. Champion at Roland Garros 2019 and Wimbledon 2021, now Barty faces the challenge of fulfilling a historic mandate in his land.
pamalfitano@pagina12.com.ar
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