The 2016 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016.[1] It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair players competed in singles and doubles tournaments.

2016 Australian Open
Date18–31 January 2016
Edition104th
CategoryGrand Slam
Draw128S / 64D / 32X
Prize moneyA$44,000,000
SurfaceHard (Plexicushion)
LocationMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
VenueMelbourne Park
Attendance720,363
Champions
Men's singles
Serbia Novak Djokovic
Women's singles
Germany Angelique Kerber
Men's doubles
United Kingdom Jamie Murray / Brazil Bruno Soares
Women's doubles
Switzerland Martina Hingis / India Sania Mirza
Mixed doubles
Russia Elena Vesnina / Brazil Bruno Soares
Wheelchair men's singles
United Kingdom Gordon Reid
Wheelchair women's singles
Netherlands Jiske Griffioen
Wheelchair quad singles
Australia Dylan Alcott
Wheelchair men's doubles
France Stéphane Houdet / France Nicolas Peifer
Wheelchair women's doubles
Japan Yui Kamiji / Netherlands Marjolein Buis
Wheelchair quad doubles
South Africa Lucas Sithole / United States David Wagner
Boys' singles
Australia Oliver Anderson
Girls' singles
Belarus Vera Lapko
Boys' doubles
Australia Alex de Minaur / Australia Blake Ellis
Girls' doubles
Russia Anna Kalinskaya / Slovakia Tereza Mihalíková
Men's legends doubles
Sweden Jonas Björkman / Sweden Thomas Johansson
Women's legends doubles
United States Lindsay Davenport / United States Martina Navratilova
← 2015 · Australian Open · 2017 →

Novak Djokovic successfully defended the men's singles title and thus won a record-equaling sixth Australian Open title. Serena Williams was the defending champion in the women's singles but failed to defend her title, losing to Angelique Kerber in the final; by winning, Kerber became the first German player of any gender to win a Grand Slam title since Steffi Graf won her last such title at the 1999 French Open.[2]

As in previous years, this year's tournament's title sponsor was Kia. This edition set a new attendance record for the tournament of 720,363.[3]

Tournament

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Rod Laver Arena, where the finals of the Australian Open take place

The 2016 Australian Open was the 104th edition of the tournament and was held at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The tournament was run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and was part of the 2016 ATP World Tour and the 2016 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of both men's and women's singles and doubles draws as well as a mixed doubles event. There were singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18), which was part of the Grade A category of tournaments, and also singles, doubles and quad events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players as part of the NEC tour under the Grand Slam category.

The tournament was played on hard courts and take place over a series of 25 courts, including the three main show courts: Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena and Margaret Court Arena.[4]

Broadcast

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In Australia, selected key matches were broadcast live by the Seven Network. The majority of matches were shown on the network's primary channel Channel Seven, however during news programming nationwide and most night matches in Perth, coverage shifted to either 7Two or 7mate. Additionally, every match was also available to be streamed live through a free 7Tennis mobile app.[5]

Internationally, ESPN held the rights for America and Central America, broadcasting matches on ESPN2 and ESPN3 in the United States as well as regionally on ESPN International. ESPN also sub-licenses matches to Tennis Channel.[6][7] Other broadcasters included beIN Sports in the Middle East, SuperSport in Africa, Eurosport through Europe (plus NOS Netherlands and SRG SSR in Switzerland), CCTV, iQiyi and SMG in China, Fiji One in Fiji, Sony ESPN in India, both Wowow and NHK in Japan, Sky in New Zealand and Fox Sports Asia in selected markets in the Asia Pacific region.[6] In Canada, TSN broadcast matches across multiple channels.[8]

Events

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Spectator safety

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Spectator safety became a major issue during the tournament, with up to four separate cases reported:

  • On Day 2, play was suspended during the fourth set of Bernard Tomic's first round match against Denis Istomin for 20 minutes after an elderly spectator collapsed due to heat stress; she was subsequently treated with an EpiPen and taken away from Hisense Arena.[9]
  • On Day 4, Ana Ivanovic's second round match against Anastasija Sevastova was interrupted in the first set when another elderly spectator fell down a set of stairs, delaying play by 25 minutes.[10]
  • On Day 6, in the most serious case, Ivanovic was again involved in a match that had to be suspended, after her coach Nigel Sears suffered a heart attack during the second set of her match against Madison Keys. Sears, who is the father-in-law of Andy Murray, had to be stretchered out of the stands and play on Rod Laver Arena was suspended for an hour. Having led by a set and a break at the time, Ivanovic proceeded to lose the match in three sets. Sears was later taken to hospital where he eventually made a full recovery.[11]
  • On Day 7, Sam Groth's mother fell down a set of stairs on Hisense Arena during the second set of her son and Lleyton Hewitt's doubles match against Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil, causing play to be suspended by 20 minutes. She was later able to walk out of the court unassisted.[12]

Maria Sharapova doping controversy

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On 7 March 2016, five weeks after the conclusion of the tournament, world number seven Maria Sharapova announced at a press conference in Los Angeles that she had failed a drug test following her quarter-final defeat by Serena Williams on 26 January. Sharapova confessed to taking the substance meldonium, which was placed on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances on 1 January; she was later suspended for two years (later reduced to fifteen months on appeal), backdated to 26 January, and was subsequently docked the $A375,000 she earned for reaching the quarter-finals.[13][14][15]

Point and prize money distribution

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Point distribution

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Below is a series of tables for each of the competitions showing the ranking points on offer for each event.

Senior points

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Event W F SF QF Round of 16 Round of 32 Round of 64 Round of 128 Q Q3 Q2 Q1
Men's singles 2000 1200 720 360 180 90 45 10 25 16 8 0
Men's doubles 0
Women's singles 1300 780 430 240 130 70 10 40 30 20 2
Women's doubles 10

Prize money

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The Australian Open total prize money for 2016 was increased by four million Australian dollars to tournament record A$44,000,000.

Event W F SF QF Round of 16 Round of 32 Round of 64 Round of 1281 Q3 Q2 Q1
Singles A$3,400,000 A$1,700,000 A$750,000 A$375,000 A$193,000 A$108,000 A$67,000 A$38,500 A$20,000 A$12,000 A$6,000
Doubles * A$635,000 A$315,000 A$157,500 A$78,500 A$43,000 A$25,500 A$16,500
Mixed doubles * A$157,000 A$78,500 A$39,250 A$18,000 A$9,000 A$4,500

1Qualifiers prize money was also the Round of 128 prize money.
*per team

Singles players

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2016 Australian Open – Men's singles

2016 Australian Open – Women's singles

Day-by-day summaries

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Champions

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Seniors

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Men's singles

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Djokovic and Murray had faced one another 30 times prior to the final, with Djokovic victorious on 21 occasions. Murray had lost four Australian Open finals, three times to Djokovic, while the Serb had won the title five times. After an even first game, Djokovic broke Murray twice to lead 5–0, before Murray held. Djokovic took the winning game to secure the first set 6–1 in 30 minutes. The second set went with serve until Djokovic broke Murray to lead 4–3. The Scot broke back immediately and held his serve, but Djokovic broke in the eleventh game, then went on to hold serve, taking the second set 7–5. Djokovic broke the Murray serve in the first game of the third set, but Murray broke back to restore parity in the set at 3–3. The subsequent games went with serve and sent the set to a tie-break. Djokovic led 3–0 and 6–1 before finally securing the championship victory by three sets to love, with a 7–3 tie-break victory.[16]

Women's singles

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Going into the final, Kerber and Williams had faced each other six times with Williams holding a 5–1 advantage. Kerber broke Williams in the third game of the first set with Williams breaking back to make it 3–3. Kerber immediately broke back and held serve to win the first set 6–4. Williams took advantage of the third of three break points in the fourth game of the second set, the remainder of the set going with serve, leveling the match at one set all. Kerber broke Williams in the second game of the final set, but Williams immediately broke back and held her own serve to level the deciding set at 2–2. Another break for Kerber saw her leading 5–2 but Williams broke back once again, taking the set to 5–4 to Kerber. A cross-court exchange described as "breathtaking" saw Williams hit the ball long, securing the title for Kerber.[17]

Men's doubles

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Women's doubles

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Mixed doubles

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Juniors

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Boys' singles

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Girls' singles

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Boys' doubles

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Girls' doubles

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Legends

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Men's Legends doubles

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Wheelchair events

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Wheelchair men's singles

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Wheelchair women's singles

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Wheelchair quad singles

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Wheelchair men's doubles

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Wheelchair women's doubles

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Wheelchair quad doubles

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Singles seeds

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The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seeding are arranged according to ATP and WTA rankings on 11 January 2016, while ranking and points before are as of 18 January 2016.

Seed Rank Player Points before Points defending Points won Points after Status
1 1   Novak Djokovic 16,790 2,000 2,000 16,790 Champion, defeated   Andy Murray [2]
2 2   Andy Murray 8,945 1,200 1,200 8,945 Runner-up, lost to   Novak Djokovic [1]
3 3   Roger Federer 8,165 90 720 8,795 Semifinals lost to   Novak Djokovic [1]
4 4   Stan Wawrinka 6,865 720 180 6,325 Fourth round lost to   Milos Raonic [13]
5 5   Rafael Nadal 5,230 360 10 4,880 First round lost to   Fernando Verdasco
6 6   Tomáš Berdych 4,560 720 360 4,200 Quarterfinals lost to   Roger Federer [3]
7 7   Kei Nishikori 4,235 360 360 4,235 Quarterfinals lost to   Novak Djokovic [1]
8 8   David Ferrer 4,145 180 360 4,325 Quarterfinals lost to   Andy Murray [2]
9 10   Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2,725 0 180 2,905 Fourth round lost to   Kei Nishikori [7]
10 11   John Isner 2,495 90 180 2,585 Fourth round lost to   David Ferrer [8]
11 12   Kevin Anderson 2,475 180 10 2,305 First round retired vs.   Rajeev Ram
12 13   Marin Čilić 2,405 0 90 2,495 Third round lost to   Roberto Bautista Agut [24]
13 14   Milos Raonic 2,270 360 720 2,630 Semifinals lost to   Andy Murray [2]
14 15   Gilles Simon 2,145 90 180 2,235 Fourth round lost to   Novak Djokovic [1]
15 16   David Goffin 1,835 45 180 1,970 Fourth round lost to   Roger Federer [3]
16 17   Bernard Tomic 1,720 180 180 1,720 Fourth round lost to   Andy Murray [2]
17 18   Benoît Paire 1,703 27 10 1,686 First round lost to   Noah Rubin [WC]
18 19   Feliciano López 1,690 180 90 1,600 Third round lost to   John Isner [10]
19 20   Dominic Thiem 1,645 10 90 1,725 Third round lost to   David Goffin [15]
20 23   Fabio Fognini 1,515 10 10 1,515 First round lost to   Gilles Müller
21 26   Viktor Troicki 1,475 90 90 1,475 Third round lost to   Milos Raonic [13]
22 24   Ivo Karlović 1,485 45 10 1,450 First round retired vs.   Federico Delbonis
23 25   Gaël Monfils 1,485 45 360 1,800 Quarterfinals lost to   Milos Raonic [13]
24 21   Roberto Bautista Agut 1,640 45 180 1,775 Fourth round lost to   Tomáš Berdych [6]
25 22   Jack Sock 1,525 0 45 1,570 Second round lost to   Lukáš Rosol
26 27   Guillermo García López 1,430 180 90 1,340 Third round lost to   Kei Nishikori [7]
27 28   Grigor Dimitrov 1,420 180 90 1,330 Third round lost to   Roger Federer [3]
28 29   Andreas Seppi 1,290 180 90 1,200 Third round lost to   Novak Djokovic [1]
29 30   Nick Kyrgios 1,260 360 90 990 Third round lost to   Tomáš Berdych [6]
30 31   Jérémy Chardy 1,255 45 45 1,255 Second round lost to   Andrey Kuznetsov
31 32   Steve Johnson 1,240 90 90 1,240 Third round lost to   David Ferrer [8]
32 33   João Sousa 1,191 90 90 1,191 Third round lost to   Andy Murray [2]

The following player would have been seeded, but he withdrew from the event.

Rank Player Points Before Points defending Points After Withdrawal reason
9   Richard Gasquet 2,850 90 2,760 Back injury[18]
Seed Rank Player Points Before Points defending Points won Points After Status
1 1   Serena Williams 9,945 2,000 1,300 9,245 Runner-up, lost to   Angelique Kerber [7]
2 2   Simona Halep 5,965 430 10 5,545 First round lost to   Zhang Shuai [Q]
3 3   Garbiñe Muguruza 5,101 240 130 4,991 Third round lost to   Barbora Strýcová
4 4   Agnieszka Radwańska 4,670 240 780 5,210 Semifinals lost to   Serena Williams [1]
5 5   Maria Sharapova 4,542 1,300 430 3,672 Quarterfinals lost to   Serena Williams [1]
6 7   Petra Kvitová 3,642 130 70 3,582 Second round lost to   Daria Gavrilova
7 6   Angelique Kerber 3,710 10 2,000 5,700 Champion, defeated   Serena Williams [1]
8 10   Venus Williams 3,511 430 10 3,091 First round lost to   Johanna Konta
9 12   Karolína Plíšková 3,090 130 130 3,090 Third round lost to   Ekaterina Makarova [21]
10 11   Carla Suárez Navarro 3,175 10 430 3,595 Quarterfinals lost to   Agnieszka Radwańska [4]
11 14   Timea Bacsinszky 2,954 130 70 2,894 Second round lost to   Annika Beck
12 13   Belinda Bencic 3,030 10 240 3,260 Fourth round lost vs.   Maria Sharapova [5]
13 15   Roberta Vinci 2,825 70 130 2,885 Third round lost to   Anna-Lena Friedsam
14 16   Victoria Azarenka 2,745 240 430 2,935 Quarterfinals lost to   Angelique Kerber [7]
15 17   Madison Keys 2,600 780 240 2,060 Fourth round lost to   Zhang Shuai [Q]
16 18   Caroline Wozniacki 2,571 70 10 2,511 First round lost to   Yulia Putintseva
17 19   Sara Errani 2,525 130 10 2,405 First round lost to   Margarita Gasparyan
18 21   Elina Svitolina 2,465 130 70 2,405 Second round lost to   Naomi Osaka [Q]
19 22   Jelena Janković 2,445 10 70 2,505 Second round lost to   Laura Siegemund
20 23   Ana Ivanovic 2,341 10 130 2,461 Third round lost to   Madison Keys [15]
21 24   Ekaterina Makarova 2,300 780 240 1,760 Fourth round lost to   Johanna Konta
22 25   Andrea Petkovic 2,230 10 10 2,230 First round lost to   Elizaveta Kulichkova
23 20   Svetlana Kuznetsova 2,475 10 70 2,535 Second round lost to   Kateryna Bondarenko
24 26   Sloane Stephens 1,965 10 10 1,965 First round lost to   Wang Qiang [Q]
25 27   Samantha Stosur 1,935 70 10 1,875 First round lost to   Kristýna Plíšková [Q]
26 28   Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1,880 10 10 1,880 First round lost to   Lauren Davis
27 29   Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 1,875 70 10 1,815 First round lost to   Daria Kasatkina
28 30   Kristina Mladenovic 1,725 70 130 1,785 Third round lost to   Daria Gavrilova
29 31   Irina-Camelia Begu 1,630 240 10 1,400 First round lost to   Johanna Larsson
30 32   Sabine Lisicki 1,622 10 70 1,682 Second round lost to   Denisa Allertová
31 35   Lesia Tsurenko 1,398 10 10 1,398 First round lost to   Varvara Lepchenko
32 34   Caroline Garcia 1,420 130 10 1,300 First round lost to   Barbora Strýcová

The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew or not entered from the event.

Rank Player Points Before Points defending Points After Withdrawal reason
8   Flavia Pennetta 3,621 10 3,611 Retirement from tennis[citation needed]
9   Lucie Šafářová 3,590 10 3,580 Bacterial infection[19]

Doubles seeds

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Team Rank1 Seed
  Sania Mirza   Ivan Dodig 7 1
  Bethanie Mattek-Sands   Bob Bryan 7 2
  Chan Yung-jan   Rohan Bopanna 16 3
  Katarina Srebotnik   Jamie Murray 23 4
  Elena Vesnina   Bruno Soares 30 5
  Lucie Hradecká   Marcin Matkowski 33 6
  Raquel Atawo   Raven Klaasen 39 7
  Chan Hao-ching   Max Mirnyi 41 8
  • 1 Rankings were as of 18 January 2016.

Main draw wildcard entries

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Main draw qualifier entries

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The qualifying competition took place in Melbourne Park on 13 – 16 January 2016.

Protected ranking

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The following players were accepted directly into the main draw using a protected ranking:

Withdrawals

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The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament, but withdrew with injuries and personal reasons.

Before the tournament

Retirements

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References

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  1. ^ "Australian Open Tickets". Ticketliquidator.com. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Australian Open: Angelique Kerber stuns Serena Williams to win women's final". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 30 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  3. ^ "What We Learned from the Australian Open". Tennis.com. 1 February 2016.
  4. ^ "First Glimpse of new-look Margaret Court Arena". Tennis.com.au. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  5. ^ Knox, David (17 December 2015). "Seven Tennis 2016: summer guide". TV Tonight. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Broadcasting". Australian Open. Archived from the original on 17 January 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  7. ^ Reynolds, Mike (10 September 2013). "ESPN Aces 10-Year Renewal With Australian Open". Multichannel News. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  8. ^ "TSN Secures 10-Year Australian Open Extension". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Australian Open 2016: Bernard Tomic rattled after spectator's medical emergency". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  10. ^ Nicholson, Larissa (21 January 2016). "Australian Open 2016: Ana Ivanovic left shaken after woman falls mid-match". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  11. ^ "Australian Open: Ana Ivanovic's coach Nigel Sears collapses in stand, play resumes after suspension". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 24 January 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  12. ^ "Australian Open 2016: Sam Groth's mother falls down stairs, fourth spectator emergency". The Australian. 24 January 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  13. ^ Lake, Jefferson (8 March 2016). "Maria Sharapova reveals failed drug test at Australian Open". Sky Sports. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  14. ^ McGrogan, Ed (8 June 2016). "SHARAPOVA RECEIVES TWO-YEAR BAN, BACKDATED TO JANUARY 2016". tennis.com. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  15. ^ "Maria Sharapova has doping ban reduced to 15 months by Court of Arbitration for Sport". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 5 October 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  16. ^ Steinberg, Jacob (31 January 2016). "Andy Murray beaten by Novak Djokovic in Australian Open final – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  17. ^ Murrells, Katy (30 January 2016). "Angelique Kerber stuns Serena Williams to claim Australian Open title – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  18. ^ "Australian Open: Richard Gasquet forced to withdraw". Eurosport. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  19. ^ "Lucie Safarova out of Australian Open due to bacterial infection". ESPN. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
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