Australian Open: 1998 to 2020
After many years attending the Australian Open in Melbourne I thought I’d share the changes I’ve captured over time from court colour and sponsorships to venue upgrades and extensions. I’ve only really been to the open towards the end of the first week, usually over the middle Saturday which is one of or the busiest day for the whole tournament.
Rod Laver Arena in 1998 and 2020, had to warp each one a little to try and line then up as the positions were close but not close enough.
It took more time than I thought to track down old photos across multiple drives, cloud storage, DVD’s and old film prints. After many hours I’ve tracked down quite a few years worth of photos, it’s amazing to see the transformation over this time.
Photos were captured on a point and shoot film camera (cannot remember the brand or model), most or all of my old Olympus cameras, a few mobiles and the last couple of years my phone Google Pixel 2.
Below are 13 Australian Open years of photos that I found starting 22 years ago when it was the Ford Australian Open.
1998
2005
2005. Kia sponsorship started back in 2002 and replaced Ford as the major sponsor.
2006
2006
2010
2010
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Year after year it is getting busier and busier with something new added or upgraded which is great to see but with all the new areas it would be interesting to know the percentage of attendants that actually go for the tennis. Maybe it’s just me and the fact that I prefer less people and more open spaces :)