Show Court Arena, also known by

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

sponsorship as

Kia Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second larges ...

Arena, is an open-air

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

located in

Melbourne Park Melbourne Park is a sports venue in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Since 1988, Australia's bicentenary, Melbourne Park has been home of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament play ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia. The arena opened in advance of the

2022 Australian Open The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...

. It seats 5,000 spectators and is the fourth-largest tennis venue at Melbourne Park.

History

In April 2017, the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

announced it would proceed with the third and final stage of the ongoing redevelopment of the

sporting and entertainment precinct, which had begun in 2010. The construction of Show Court Arena was the most prominent component of this redevelopment stage, which came at an overall cost of $271.5 million. The arena is situated on the site of the old Eastern Courts 16–23, between

Rod Laver Arena Rod Laver Arena is a multipurpose arena located within Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The arena is the main venue for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament of ...

and

John Cain Arena John Cain Arena is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena located within Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the second-largest venue and show court for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam professional tennis ...

, and slightly to the north of the large public grassed area known as "Grand Slam Oval" during the Australian Open. Demolition of the old courts and the adjacent function and broadcast centre (which itself was demolished and replaced with an upgraded facility) commenced in April 2019. Show Court Arena at Melbourne Park during Australian Open 2023

Show Court Arena at Melbourne Park during Australian Open 2023

The arena was constructed with approximately 270 tonnes of steel fabricated entirely in Victoria. It is partially sunken into the ground and has an open-roof structure which provides shade and cover protection for most of the spectators seated in the arena. Unlike the three larger venues at Melbourne Park (Rod Laver Arena, John Cain Arena and

Margaret Court Arena Margaret Court Arena is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue located in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena, which was built in 1987 and redeveloped in the mid-2010s, has a capacity of 7,500. It is named after ...

), the arena does not have a retractable roof capable of being shut during inclement weather. The arena's roof structure was completed in February 2021, with the seating and interior facilities completed in October that year. The arena was unveiled by Australian Open officials on 22 November 2021.

Belinda Bencic Belinda Bencic (; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 4 which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won nine career singles titles, including Tennis at the 2020 ...

won the first main draw match to be played on the arena, defeating

Kristina Mladenovic Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. Her best singles ranking is world No. 10. She is a nine-time Grand Slam ...

6–4, 6–3. At the

2023 Australian Open The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament ...

, the arena served as the location of the inaugural AO Finals Festival, a musical festival occurring over the final three days of the tournament, with the festival's lineup including

Vanessa Amorosi Vanessa Joy AmorosiSharon Verghis"Back on track" ''The Sun-Herald'', 18 October 2009, Archived fro''the original''on 6 March 2016. (born 8 August 1981) is an Australian singer-songwriter. She has sold at least two million units in albums or sin ...

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne ( ; ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), commonly known as Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularising the essay as ...

Benee Stella Rose Bennett (born 30 January 2000), better known as Benee (stylised in all caps; pronounced ) and formerly Bene, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. In both 2019 and 2020, she consecutively won Single of the Year, Bes ...

Thelma Plum Thelma Amelina Plumbe (born 21 December 1994), known professionally as Thelma Plum, is an Aboriginal Australian ( Gamilaraay) singer, songwriter, guitarist and musician from Delungra, New South Wales. Her debut album, '' Better in Blak'', was ...

, Winston Surfshirt,

Flight Facilities Flight Facilities is an Australian electronic music production duo that also performs as Hugo & Jimmy. In 2009, they began mixing songs by other artists before crafting their own original material. The duo consists of Hugo Gruzman and James Lye ...

, Lastlings and

Forest Claudette Kobe Hamilton-Reeves, (known professionally as Forest Claudette) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Early life Kobe Hamilton-Reeves was born in Melbourne, Australia whose parents are classically trained. Their older brother Zach is the vo ...

. The festival was a sold-out success, which led to the festival's return at the larger

for the

2024 Australian Open The 2024 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 14 to 28 January 2024. It was the 112th edition of the Australian Open, the 56th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament c ...

Naming

During construction the venue was referred to by official sources as ''Show Court Arena''. In January 2021 the stadium was named Kia Arena, in a deal between the Australian Open and the tournament's primary corporate sponsor,

motors. This differs from the three larger courts, two of which are named after prominent Australian tennis players and the other for a politician.

References

External links

Kia Arena (Austadiums)

Official website (Melbourne Olympic Parks)

New Melbourne Park Facilities ahead of 2022 Australian Open (YouTube)
{{Grand Slam Tournaments Venues , state=autocollapse 2021 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 2021 Sports venues in Melbourne Tennis venues in Australia Sport in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA)

History

Naming

See also

References

External links