The South Australian Championships (1889–1989), also known as the South Australian State Championships and later known as the South Australian Open was an amateur and later a professional men's and women's

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 ...

tournament played originally on outdoor

grass court A grass court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. While grass courts are more tra ...

s up to 1987 when it switched to hard courts in its final two years. The tournament was staged at

Memorial Drive Park Memorial Drive Park, more generally referred to as "Memorial Drive", is a tennis venue, located adjacent to the Adelaide Oval, in the Adelaide Parklands, park lands surrounding the centre of Adelaide, South Australia. Memorial Drive took its na ...

tennis complex in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and was part of the

Grand Prix tennis circuit The ITF Grand Prix Circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players founded in 1970 as the ILTF Grand Prix Tennis Circuit it was administered by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and ran annually until 1989 when it and the rival ...

from 1972 until 1989.

History

The origins of the South Australian Championships is thought to be traced back to 1880, however other sources give the start date as 1890 when the

-based ''South Australian Tennis Championships'', the first known recorded winner of the event was Herbert Hambridge running as part of the men's amateur tour until 1967. The tournament was first staged on courts adjacent to the Adelaide Oval tennis courts, in 1895 it switched to the then newly built Jubilee Exhibition Oval where it remained until 1921. The 1910 edition of the championships staged the Australasian Championships, the champion that year Rodney Heath held the dual title titles of Australasian and South Australian Champion. In 1920 the men's South Australian Championships in Adelaide carried the Australasian title in March and was won by

Pat O'Hara Wood Hector "Pat" O'Hara Wood (30 April 1891 – 3 December 1961) was an Australian tennis player. O'Hara Wood was born in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. He is best known for his two victories at the Australasian Championships (now th ...

. In 1921 the tournament moved location to

and would continue to be played there until the tournament finished. From 1969 until 1971 the event was part of the ITF independent tour, in 1972 the tournament became part of the

, which ran concurrently with other tours as the

World Championship Tennis World Championship Tennis (WCT) was one of the principal organizing bodies of men's professional tennis headquartered at the WCT Lakeway World of Tennis facility, Austin, Texas, United States from 1968 to 1989. It administered the WCT Circuit a w ...

circuit. The tournament had a chaotic history over the following years, taking place on the professional tour again in 1974, in 1977, as the

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...

-sponsored South Australian Men's Tennis Classic, and in 1979, as the South Australian Open, before it started a regular run in 1981 under the latter title. Moved from January to December in the Grand Prix circuit calendars of the early 1980s, the South Australian Open sealed its place as the opening event of the season in 1987, when it was scheduled again in January, following the return of the Australian Open as the first Grand Slam event of the year. After the surface change of the Australian Open, the tournament also switched to

hard courts A hardcourt (or hard court) is a type of surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surf ...

, starting with the 1988 edition when the event was concurrently called the

Australian Hard Court Championships The Australian Hard Court Championships was a former professional tennis tournament established in 1938 and held until 2008. The event was played on clay courts until 1977 when it switched to hard courts. The tournament was a combined event for m ...

however this national championship had been staged in rotation at various cities around Australia since 1938. The 1989 edition would be the last event to be called South Australian Open.

Notes

''The winners of the 1988 and 1989 editions of this tournament were simultaneously called Australian Hard Court Champion and South Australian Open champion. This occurred when the South Australian tournament switched from grass to hard courts in 1988. The roll of honor for both of these events are different and as such are treated as two different tournaments, with the exception of these years when they were combined titles.''

Past finals

Men's singles

Men's doubles

References

External links

ATP results archive

South Australian Champions Roll of Honour
{{Men's tennis seasons, state=collapsed Grand Prix tennis circuit Grass court tennis tournaments Hard court tennis tournaments Sport in Adelaide Defunct tennis tournaments in Australia