From the land Down Under

There's something about the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park that inspires me to put digit to keypad, as it were, and hunt-n-peck my way to some sort of resolution. Fitting, then, that it is held in January. In spite of my misgivings about the placement of the season's first Grand Slam on the ATP and WTA calendars, the event never fails to quicken my pulse and give clarity to my thinking.

Perhaps the installation of the Plexicushion surface and the rule changes regarding when the retractable roof over Rod Laver Arena would be closed had an impact, but I was pleasantly surprised to note a reduction in withdrawals, injuries, and retirements due to heat exhaustion or fatigue. Still, I believe the tennis community as a whole — including the pros who compete for this first of the year's major titles — would be better served if the tournament committee would move the Aussie Open out four or five weeks the the last week in February. Holding the AO at that time would have a two-fold positive effect: it would delay the event until early fall, when temperatures wouldn't be so oppressive; and it would open a six- to seven-week window of opportunity for a Pacific Rim or Asia-Pacific Series, taking a page from the highly successful U.S. Open Series notebook.

This latter point should not be so easily dismissed. The U.S. Open Series has clearly generated interest in the hard-court run-ups to the U.S. Open at the end of August. ATP events in Los Angeles, Washington, Toronto/Montreal, Cincinnati and elsewhere have seen record attendance, as well as commitments from most of the top players. It's not too much of a stretch to say that the record-breaking attendance numbers at the U.S. Open in 2006 and 2007 were a byproduct of the Series and its marketing. USTA past president Arlen Kantarian and current president Jane Brown Grimes thinks so, anyway.

And the Australian Open was at one time played in December; it was the last Grand Slam of the season, not the first that it is today. If you'll recall, that was one of the main reasons that Bjorn Borg stopped making the trek to the land Down Under, having failed time and again to win the U.S. Open, thereby making a calendar-year Grand Slam impossible. So, this blind allegiance to the January schedule is not a long-standing tradition. There is precedent for it to be otherwise.

All this being true, the tournament committee and Tennis Australia's governing body have a few good arguments to support keeping things the way they are. Attendance for this year's Aussie Open exceeded that of all others previous, reaching more than 600,000 for the fortnight and rivaling the U.S. Open numbers. In addition, holding the Aussie open in the summer months when schools are not in session allows more yong fans and families to attend the matches at Melbourne Park. Australia's version of Labor Day even falls on the last weekend of the tournament.

Still, I cannot help but think that pushing the major to late February has overwhelming merit. It would allow Tennis Australia to truly capitalize on the "Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific" slogan and maximize the marketing value of this great event. It would provide a meaningful context for other large-venue Tier 1 and Tier 2 events in Japan, China and throughout Southeast Asia and Indonesia, and give the Australian Open the added import of being a culminating event. I'm quite sure that with what the Aussie Open has going for it — its rich history, its importance as the year's first Slam, the beauty of the venue and region, and the intelligence of its marketing and planning committees, fans will continue to flock there for years to come.

Or, at least until its current contract expires or its major sponsor, Kia Motors, redirects its entertainment dollars.

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