Australian Open: Melbourne Park Venue Guide

Melbourne Park is the long-established venue for one of the early sporting highlights of the year, the Australian Open.

Every January, the best tennis players in the world head to the Australian city to take part in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Melbourne Park has been the setting for the competition since 1988, the year of Australia's bicentenary, and the high-quality venue, which is situated in the city centre, close to the Yarra River and the famous MCG Cricket stadium, has a total of 35 outdoor Greenset tennis courts.

Melbourne Park capacity

Melbourne Park, which also houses Australia's National Tennis Centre, has several purpose-built venues that each year fans flock to to watch the Australian Open.

In total, the whole Melbourne Park site can accommodate over 40,000 fans, which makes it arguably the premier tennis venue in the world, although Wimbledon in London and Flushing Meadows in New York may beg to differ.

The three largest venues at Melbourne Park, which all feature retractable roofs and allow events to be played indoors or outdoors, are the Rod Laver Arena, the John Cain Arena and the Margaret Court Arena.

Rod Laver Arena is the biggest and has a capacity of 15,000, the John Cain Arena can host 10,500 fans and the Margaret Court Arena has 7,500 seats for spectators to watch the action.

As well as those popular main courts, Melbourne Park also boasts Show Court 3 and the 1573 Arena, which both have a 3,000-seating capacity, while the new Kia Arena, which opened in 2022, can accommodate 5,000 paying punters.

Melbourne Park courts

Rod Laver Arena

The Rod Laver Arena is where the Australian Open Final takes place and is considered to be one of the most important and iconic tennis stadiums in the world.

It was built between 1985-87, replacing the previous Kooyong Stadium on the site, and was originally known as the National Tennis Centre at Flinders Park when it first staged the Australian Open in 1988.

In 1996 it was renamed the Centre Court, before in 2000 it was renamed again, this time to honour legendary Australian player Rod Laver, a three-time winner of the Australian Open and one of the world's greatest tennis players.

John Cain Arena

The John Cain Arena is the second-largest of the Melbourne Park venues and construction of this court was completed in 2000.

The venue stages some of the biggest matches each year in the Australian Open and is often referred to as the 'People's Court' during the tournament, due to its accessibility for patrons with a ground pass and the close proximity of the fans to the players.

The arena features a cycling track, which is covered over with seating for court events, and a retractable roof.

Margaret Court Arena

Originally named Show Court One, the Margaret Court Arena, which was renamed to its current moniker in 2003, was also first opened in 1988.

Named after one of Australia's iconic sports stars, former world No.1 tennis player Court won 24 women's singles major titles and a total of 64 major titles - the most in tennis history.

The Margaret Court Arena was redeveloped in 2015, during a wide-scale upgrade to the whole Melbourne Park precinct, at a total cost of $363 million, when an extra 1,500 seats were added, taking its capacity up to 7,500.

History of Melbourne Park

Built between 1985-87, Melbourne Park - which was originally called Flinders Park - was designed to replace the ageing Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, which had stood on the site and staged the Australian Open from 1972.

The Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club was deemed too small to host the huge Grand Slam tournament and the new, sprawling, facility cost at least $94million to construct.

In 1996, during an expansion of the original site, then-Australian premier Jeff Kennett controversially changed the name to Melbourne Park, in an attempt to help market the city to a global audience.

At this juncture, and to the cost of $23million, eight new 'Ace' courts were establised, as well as a large grassy space for fans to gather, which is now known as 'Garden Square'.

The organisation responsible for managing the whole site is the Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust, which was established in October 1995, and the ultra-modern venue is viewed as one of the best sporting centres in the world, with the very best facilities for professional players and tennis spectators alike.

Other events at Melbourne Park

It's not just tennis that takes place at Melbourne Park, as the precinct often stages other sports, conferences, music concerts, festivals, and various entertainment shows.

Professional basketball team Melbourne United play their home games at John Cain Arena, while the Melbourne Vixens netball team often play at the John Cain and Margaret Court Arenas.

The great and good of the music world have all played in Melbourne and it was rock band AC/DC who wowed fans across five nights of their Blow up your Video tour in 1988 which first marked what was then known as Centre Court as a premier concert venue in the city.

Other notable bands and singers to have played at Melbourne Park down the years include Pink Floyd, Justin Timberlake, P!nk, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish.