IN NUMBERS:

As the action concludes at Melbourne Park this weekend (Eurosport), we look at some numbers relating to the finals of the first Grand Slam event of the tennis season…

1905

The year the tournament was first held, as the Australasian Championships; it became the Australian Championships in 1927 and the Australian Open in 1969. Rodney Heath beat fellow Australian Albert Curtis in that first final. The number of Australian cities that have hosted the event: Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, its home since 1972. It has also been staged twice in New Zealand, in Christchurch in 1906 and Hastings in 1912. 1912

The year Irish-born James Cecil Parke became the first British player to win the men’s singles title. There have been five British winners, the last being Fred Perry back in 1934. The record number of times Novak Djokovic has won the men’s singles title, although he wasn’t able to defend it this time around. Margaret Court, the Australian great who has an arena named after her at Melbourne Park, holds the record in the women’s singles event, with 11 wins.

The number of Japanese players to have won the title. That honour belongs to

Naomi Osaka (centre), who won the women’s singles title in 2019 and again last year.

The record number of times that

Andy Murray has lost in the final.