50 free Australian Open trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Australian Open opens the tennis year in the heat of a Melbourne January, and it has come a long way from a members' championship on a cricket ground in 1905 that many of the world's best players simply could not reach. This Australian Open trivia quiz covers the whole story: the years in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and even New Zealand, the grass at Kooyong, the 1988 move to Flinders Park and hard courts, the roofs, the blue surface and the 'Happy Slam' crowds that make it the best-attended major of all. Easy questions ask which city, which surface and who has the most titles. Then it gets harder: the trophies named for Norman Brookes and Daphne Akhurst, Mats Wilander's unique double, the 212th-ranked local who won in 1976, the extreme heat policy, and the 5-hour-53-minute final between Djokovic and Nadal. The last stretch is for people who know which arena used to be Show Court One and why the tournament skipped 1986. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and the tournament's own records, so you can quote them with confidence. There are 50 free questions and no sign-up. If you enjoy it, try our Wimbledon, French Open and US Open quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city is the Australian Open played?
Melbourne
It has been staged in five Australian cities and two in New Zealand, but has stayed in Melbourne since 1972.
Q 02Where does the Australian Open fall in the calendar of the four Grand Slams?
First
It usually starts in mid-January, and top players have complained it comes too soon after the holidays.
Q 03On what surface has the Australian Open been played since its 1988 move to Flinders Park?
Hard court
Three brands have been used since 1988: green Rebound Ace, blue Plexicushion and, since 2020, blue GreenSet.
Q 04Which surface did the Australian Open use before 1988?
Grass
The last grass edition was at Kooyong in 1987, when Stefan Edberg beat Pat Cash in the final.
Q 05What nickname is the Australian Open known by?
The Happy Slam
It is also the best-attended major, drawing more than 1.3 million people including qualifying in 2026.
Q 06Under what name was the tournament first held in 1905?
The Australasian Championships
It became the Australian Championships in 1927 and the Australian Open in 1969.
Q 07Which country outside Australia has hosted the tournament?
New Zealand
Christchurch hosted in 1906 and Hastings in 1912, back when the event was 'Australasian'.
Q 08Which venue hosted the tournament from 1972 until the move to Flinders Park in 1988?
Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club
Attendance jumped 90 percent in the first year at the new site.
Q 09Roughly how long did the ship voyage from Europe to Australia take in the 1920s?
45 days
The first players to arrive by aircraft were the US Davis Cup team in November 1946.
Q 10Why was there no Australian Open at all in 1986?
The dates moved from December to January
The 1985 edition ended in December and the next began in January 1987, so a calendar year was skipped.
Q 11The other three majors went open in 1968. In which year did the Australian tournament admit professionals?
1969
The first Australian Open was held on the Milton Courts in Brisbane, and Rod Laver won it on his way to the Grand Slam.
Q 12Which man won a record tenth Australian Open singles title in 2023?
Novak Djokovic
His tenth came in 2023; by then he had won all ten Melbourne finals he had reached.
Q 13Which Australian holds the record of eleven women's singles titles?
Margaret Court
Her 24 major singles titles remain the all-time record; the second show court is named after her.
Q 21The Australian Open was the first Grand Slam to have how many main courts fitted with retractable roofs?
Three
Rod Laver, Margaret Court and John Cain arenas can all be closed for rain or extreme heat.
Q 22What is the fourth major show court, unveiled in November 2021, called?
Kia Arena
The 5,000-seat stadium was the centrepiece of a A$271 million redevelopment.
Q 23Which court surface brand has been used since 2020?
GreenSet
The organisers changed supplier but kept the famous blue cushioned acrylic look.
Q 24What is the men's singles trophy called?
Q 14Which Australian won a record five consecutive men's titles from 1963 to 1967?
Roy Emerson
'Emmo' held the record of six titles until Djokovic passed it in 2019.
Q 15Which Swede is the only player to have won the tournament on both grass and hard courts?
Mats Wilander
He won on Kooyong's grass in 1983 and 1984 and on Rebound Ace in 1988.
Q 16Which two players won the Australian Open on both Rebound Ace and Plexicushion?
Roger Federer and Serena Williams
The green Rebound Ace was replaced after 20 years in 2008 partly because it retained too much heat.
Q 17Which is the main show court at the tournament?
Rod Laver Arena
It opened in 1988 as the National Tennis Centre and took its current name in 2000.
Q 18Roughly how many spectators does the main show court seat for tennis?
14,800
It was the first Grand Slam stadium with a retractable roof, so play can go on in rain or extreme heat.
Q 19Which Melbourne Park arena opened in 1988 with a numbered name and was renamed in 2003?
Margaret Court Arena
It was renamed in 2003 and gained a roof and 7,500 seats in a mid-2010s rebuild.
Q 20John Cain Arena, the third roofed court, opened in 2000 under which sponsor's name?
Vodafone
It became Hisense Arena in 2008 before being renamed for the former Victorian premier.
Norman Brookes Challenge Cup
Brookes played the event only once, winning in 1911, but was Australia's first great champion.
Q 25The women's singles trophy is named after which five-time champion of the 1920s?
Daphne Akhurst
She won in 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929 and 1930 and died in 1933 aged just 29.
Q 26In 2021 the Australian Open became the first Grand Slam to do what at every match?
Use electronic line judging only
It was a way to cut on-site staff during the pandemic; the tournament itself was pushed back three weeks to February.
Q 27How does the Australian Open settle a deciding set that reaches six games all?
A first-to-10 tiebreak
It adopted the format in 2019, and by 2022 all four majors had standardised on it.
Q 28Since 2024 the tournament has started on which day of the week?
Sunday
Day sessions were also cut to two matches to stop play dragging into the early hours.
Q 29In what year was the tournament's Extreme Heat Policy first introduced?
1998
The current version, from 2019, uses a 1-to-5 heat stress scale that treats adults, juniors and wheelchair players differently.
Q 30Which sport got its own invitational 'Slam' on Court 3 during the 2025 tournament?
Pickleball
The AO Pickleball Slam offered A$100,000 in prize money.