Australian open 2018

Australian open 2018 - 22/12/2017

This year marks the 106thedition of the Australian open tournament, which will be held at Melbourne Park.

The tournament is run by the ITF (International Tennis Foundation), the tournament is part of the 2018 WTA Tour and ATP World Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consists of both men’s and women’s singles as well as a doubles draw and a mixed doubles event. There will also be a singles and doubles event being held for girls and boys under the age of 18, which is part of a Grade A category of tournaments and as part of the NEC tour under the Grand Slam category there will be singles, doubles and quad events for men’s and women’s wheelchair tennis players.

Changes being made

This year the Grand Slam Board met in London and a vote led to 5 rules being amended that pertain to match play in Grand Slams.

1. The introduction of a 25 sec shot clock between points

This will be enforced in the Australian Open 2018 qualifying, and will mean slightly quicker matches.

2. A $20,000 fine will be issues to player’s exceeding pre-match warm-up time limits.

This will be enforced in the Australian Open 2018, and should mean slightly quicker matches.

3. A main draw singles player who is unfit to play and who withdraws on-site after 12pm on Thursday before the start of the main draw will receive 50 per cent of the first-round prize money, despite not playing. The replacement will receive the remaining 50 per cent.

This will be enforced in the Australian Open 2018, and will mean that the number of first-round mid-match retirements will reduce as players carrying injuries are less likely to play and withdraw because they receive prize money anyway.

4. A main-draw singles player that retires or performs subpar to professional standards could face a fine up to the amount of their first round prize money.

This will be enforced in the Australian Open 2018, and should mean a reduction in first-round-mid-match retirements.

5. For main-draw singles matches, the number of seeded players will be reduced from 32 to 16

This will be enforced in the Australian Open 2019, and will mean even more matches to be seen in the first week, but could result in a few oddly paired matches as well.