The 2024 Australian Open both piqued fan interest and featured exciting competition. The world’s top players showcased their talent on-court, while the event offered a diverse range of food, entertainment, shopping and tennis activities that catered to all age groups.
In the women’s tournament, Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her title by defeating Qinwen Zheng 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday. Sabalenka started strong by winning eight of the first nine points and maintained her dominance throughout the match. 21 year-old Zheng, the WTA’s 2023 most improved player, is the first Chinese player to make a Grand Slam final since Li Na Wen in 2014.
Throughout the tournament, Sabalenka went a perfect 14 wins out of 14 sets. Her impressive performance was not unexpected, as she is known to be one of the top hard-court players —12 of her 14 title wins have come on hard courts.
In the men’s singles final, Jannik Sinner made a comeback to defeat Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, earning him his first Grand Slam title. Sinner, who is only 22 years old, became the first Italian man to win the Australian Open since 1976, and the youngest player to win at Melbourne Park since Novak Djokovic in 2008.
Sinner’s victory was particularly noteworthy since he ended Djokovic’s 33-match winning streak in Melbourne in the semifinals.It was also the first Australian Open final since 2005 that did not include Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer, as Federer retired and Nadal pulled out of the tournament due to injury. Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, now has a record of 1-5 in Grand Slam finals.
In the men’s doubles final, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden clinched the title by defeating Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6, 7-5. This marked Bopanna’s first major title in doubles and Ebden’s second. Bopanna became the oldest man in the Open Era to win a major title.
Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens won the women’s doubles title by defeating Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko in the final 6-1, 7-5. This was their second major title as a team —Hsieh’s eighth major title and Mertens’ fourth.
Su-wei and Jan Zieliński won the mixed doubles title by defeating Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski 6-7, 6-4, [11-9] in the final. They saved a championship point en route to Hsieh’s seventh major title, her first on hardcourts and Zieliński’s first doubles title.
The 2024 Australian Open broke both two and three week attendance records. A total of 1,020,763 people attended the main draw, surpassing the previous record of 839,192 set in 2023. Furthermore, an additional 89,894 fans attended during the AO Opening Week, bringing the total attendance to 1,110,657 people. The excitement that two young champions brought to the Australian Open signals people’s continued interest in the game, even as older players, like the “Big Three” begin to fade and retire.
