Melbourne Park

Since 1988, Australia's bicentenary, Melbourne Park has been home of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament played annually in January.

[2] The unveiling of the new precinct was met with incredibly positive reviews by players and spectators, with some labelling the facilities and amenities the best of the four Grand Slams.

In April 2018, Tennis Australia revealed it harboured ambitions to take over management rights of the entire precinct, with the hope of maximising its use for other sporting and cultural events outside of the Australian Open.

In the past Melbourne Park has hosted ice skating, track cycling, international swimming and motorsport events.

[6] Melbourne Park is the only Grand Slam tennis venue to have three courts installed with a retractable roof, allowing play to continue in the event of rain or extreme heat.

Completed in 2000 for a cost of $65 million, the arena has hosted a wide variety of sporting and other events since its inception including boxing bouts such as Anthony Mundine vs. Lester Ellis, as well as Grand Finals in netball and basketball and concerts performed by Scissor Sisters, B.

[17] During the Australian Open, John Cain Arena hosts numerous day and night matches up to the end of the fourth round.

Francesca Schiavone defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4 1–6 16–14 in four hours and forty-four minutes at the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open.

Originally seating 6,000 spectators, the arena underwent a renovation which increased the capacity to 7,500 and added a retractable roof – the fastest of its kind in the world, opening or closing in just five minutes.

Construction of the arena was the signature element of the $271.5 million third stage of redevelopments of Melbourne Park and was completed prior to the 2022 Australian Open.

Opened in September 2021, Centrepiece replaced the old function and media centre, is located near Garden Square and Rod Laver Arena.

The building is capable of hosting large events and banquets of varying capacity inside the grand ballroom, and is also equipped with media and television broadcast facilities, studios and meeting rooms, and a 250-seat auditorium.

The new footbridge, named Tanderrum Bridge, was unveiled in December 2016 and the Administration and Media Building was completed two months earlier.

[37][38] The Rod Laver Arena refurbishment included a new four-level training, leisure and multi-dining facility for athletes at the Australian Open and the general public at other times; this was completed in December 2018.

[41] The final phase of redevelopment (Stage 3) was announced in April 2017 by the Victorian Government; a further $271.3 million was invested to complete upgrades for Melbourne Park.

[44] Other upgrades to the park as part of this stage was the installation of a central logistics hub which included a kitchen and loading dock, additional grassed public spaces, and two match tennis courts with seating for several hundred spectators.