2015 Australian Open

The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

2015 Australian Open
Date19 January – 1 February 2015
Edition103rd
CategoryGrand Slam (ITF)
Draw128S/64D/32X
Prize moneyA$40,000,000
SurfaceHard (Plexicushion)
LocationMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
VenueMelbourne Park
Attendance703,899
Champions
Men's Singles
Novak Djokovic
Women's Singles
Serena Williams
Men's Doubles
Simone Bolelli / Fabio Fognini
Women's Doubles
Bethanie Mattek-Sands / Lucie Šafářová
Mixed Doubles
Martina Hingis / Leander Paes
Boys' Singles
Roman Safiullin
Girls' Singles
Tereza Mihalíková
Boys' Doubles
Jake Delaney / Marc Polmans
Girls' Doubles
Miriam Kolodziejová / Markéta Vondroušová
Wheelchair Men's Singles
Shingo Kunieda
Wheelchair Women's Singles
Jiske Griffioen
Wheelchair Quad Singles
Dylan Alcott
Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Stéphane Houdet / Shingo Kunieda
Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Yui Kamiji / Jordanne Whiley
Wheelchair Quad Doubles
Andrew Lapthorne / David Wagner

Stan Wawrinka was the defending champion in men's singles but lost to four-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Reigning women's champion Li Na did not defend her title, as she retired from professional tennis in September, 2014.[1] Novak Djokovic won an Open Era record fifth men's singles crown by defeating Andy Murray in the final, and this was the third time they met each other in the final.[2] Serena Williams won an Open Era record six women's singles championships by defeating Maria Sharapova in the final, and this was the second time they met each other in the final.[3]

Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini teamed up to win the men's doubles title for the first time over the team of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.[4] Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová teamed up to win the women's doubles crown for the first time over the team of Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie.[5] Martina Hingis and Leander Paes teamed up to win the mixed doubles title, it was the second for Hingis and third for Paes, over the defending champions Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor.[6]

Tournament
Rod Laver Arena where the Finals of the Australian Open take place

The 2015 Australian Open was the 103rd edition of the tournament and was held at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The tournament was run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and was part of the 2015 ATP World Tour and the 2015 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of both men's and women's singles and doubles draws as well as a mixed doubles event. There were singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18), which was part of the Grade A category of tournaments, and also singles, doubles and quad events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players as part of the NEC tour under the Grand Slam category.

The tournament was played on hard courts and took place over a series of 16 courts with Plexicushion surface, including the three main showcourts – Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena and Margaret Court Arena.[7] The latter was unveiled with a capacity increase from 6,000 to 7,500 and also as the third Melbourne Park venue with fully operational retractable roof to make the Australian Open the first Grand Slam tournament with three such tennis stadiums.[8] Partly due to the new roof, the 2015 event set an all-time attendance record of 703,899 fans. The cooler than normal temperatures may also have played a role.[9]

Broadcast

The tournament was broadcast in more than 200 countries around the world. In Australia, all matches were broadcast live by the Seven Network on the network's primary channel under the banner Seven Sport. In the Asia/Pacific region, the tournament was covered by CCTV, iQiyi, SMG (China), Fiji One (Fiji), Sony SIX (India), WOWOW, NHK (Japan), Sky TV (New Zealand) and Fox Sports Asia, in Europe by Eurosport, NOS (Netherlands), SRG SSR (Switzerland) and BBC (United Kingdom), in the Middle East by beIN Sports, in Africa by SuperSport, while in the Americas coverage was provided by ESPN.[10]

In 2015, live coverage emanated from all sixteen courts. Qualifying tournaments, draw ceremony and Kids' Day were shown on official tournament website, AusOpen.com.[11]

Controversy

Following a second round victory in Women's singles Canadian Eugenie Bouchard was approached by an interviewer, Ian Cohen, who cited tweets made by Bouchard the previous evening which complimented fellow competitor Serena Williams's on court attire. The interviewer, explaining that Williams "was kind enough to give us a twirl," asked Bouchard to offer her own twirl.[12] Though Bouchard obliged, the request was met with criticism, with many accusing the interviewer of being sexist.[13] The controversy was referred to by some media outlets as "twirlgate."[14] Billie Jean King responded to the interview by saying "This is truly sexist. If you ask the women, you have to ask the guys to twirl as well." For her part, Bouchard said the request would not be sexist if men were asked to "flex their muscles and stuff." At least one media outlet pointed out that as part of a pre-tournament interview Rafael Nadal was asked to take off his shirt for the enjoyment of female fans.[15]

Point and prize money distribution

Point distribution

Below is a series of tables for each of the competitions showing the ranking points on offer for each event.

Senior points
Event W F SF QF Round of 16 Round of 32 Round of 64 Round of 128 Q Q3 Q2 Q1
Men's Singles 2000 1200 720 360 180 90 45 10 25 16 8 0
Men's Doubles 0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Women's Singles 1300 780 430 240 130 70 10 40 30 20 2
Women's Doubles 10 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Prize money

The Australian Open total prize money for 2015 was increased to A$40,000,000, with men's and women's singles champions to receive a tournament-record 3.1 million Australian dollars reward.[16] Out of total prize money, A$28,796,000 was paid for players competing in singles main draw, further A$1,344,000 for players, who lost in qualifying, A$5,165,200 – for doubles players, A$480,000 for mixed doubles players and A$605,330 for competitors in other events, while A$3,609,470 was used to cover other fees, including players' per diem and trophies.[17]

Event W F SF QF Round of 16 Round of 32 Round of 64 Round of 1281 Q3 Q2 Q1
Singles A$3,100,000 A$1,550,000 A$650,000 A$340,000 A$175,000 A$97,500 A$60,000 A$34,500 A$16,000 A$8,000 A$4,000
Doubles* A$575,000 A$285,000 A$142,500 A$71,000 A$39,000 A$23,000 A$14,800 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Mixed Doubles* A$142,500 A$71,500 A$35,600 A$16,300 A$8,200 A$4,000 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

1Qualifiers prize money is also the Round of 128 prize money.
*per team

Singles players

2015 Australian Open – Men's Singles

2015 Australian Open – Women's Singles

Day-by-day summaries
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Day-by-day summaries

Events

Seniors

Men's Singles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Men's Singles

This was the third time these two players met in the final. The other two times were in 2011 and 2013, when Djokovic won. This time would prove no different with Djokovic winning his fifth title, an Open Era record, to go along with his titles in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013.[2] This victory was Djokovic's eighth grand slam title, tying him in the Open Era with Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi. This was Murray's fourth loss in the final of the Australian Open, three of them to Djokovic and one to Roger Federer in 2010. This marks the first time since Björn Borg at the US Open that someone has lost all four of his final appearances at a particular grand slam event.

Women's Singles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Women's Singles

This marked the second time these two players met in the final. The other time was in 2007, which Williams won. This time would be exactly the same, with Williams winning her sixth title (an Open Era record), to go along with wins in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010.[3] This was her nineteenth career grand slam singles title, behind only Steffi Graf's twenty-two titles in the Open Era of tennis. This was Sharapova's third loss in the final; the other two losses were in 2012 to Victoria Azarenka and to Williams in 2007. Sharapova won the title in 2008.

Men's Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Men's Doubles

This was the first men's doubles title for the team of Bolelli and Fognini at the event and in their respective careers.[4]

Women's Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Women's Doubles

This was the first women's doubles title for the team of Mattek-Sands and Šafářová at the event and in their respective careers.[5] One of their finalist opponents, Zheng Jie won the title in 2006 with Yan Zi.

Mixed Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles

This was a match of past mixed doubles champions at the event, which Hingis won with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2006, while her partner Paes won titles in 2003 with Martina Navratilova and in 2010 with Cara Black.[6] Their finalist opponents' won the event last year, but Nestor won titles in 2007 with Elena Likhovtseva and 2011 with Katarina Srebotnik. This was Hingis' second mixed doubles title for her career, and for Paes' it is his seventh mixed doubles grand slam crown for his career.

Juniors

Boys' Singles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Boys' Singles

Girls' Singles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Girls' Singles

Boys' Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Boys' Doubles

Girls' Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Girls' Doubles

Wheelchair

Wheelchair Men's Singles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Wheelchair Men's Singles

Wheelchair Women's Singles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Wheelchair Women's Singles

Wheelchair Quad Singles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Wheelchair Quad Singles

Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Wheelchair Men's Doubles

Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Wheelchair Women's Doubles

Wheelchair Quad Doubles
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Wheelchair Quad Doubles

Singles seeds

Seedings are based on rankings as of 12 January 2015. Rankings and points before are as of 19 January 2015.
Points defending includes results from both the 2014 Australian Open and tournaments from the week of 27 January 2014 (Davis Cup for the men, and Paris and Pattaya for the women).

Men's Singles
Seed Rank Player Points before Points defending Points won Points after Status
1
1
 Novak Djokovic
11,405
360
2,000
13,045
 Champion, defeated Andy Murray [6]
2
2
 Roger Federer
9,875
720+40
90
9,205
 Third round lost to Andreas Seppi
3
3
 Rafael Nadal
6,585
1,200
360
5,745
 Quarterfinals lost to Tomáš Berdych [7]
4
4
 Stan Wawrinka
5,370
2,000+40
720
4,050
 Semifinals lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
5
5
 Kei Nishikori
5,025
180
360
5,205
 Quarterfinals lost to Stan Wawrinka [4]
6
6
 Andy Murray
4,675
360+145
1,200+90
5,460
 Runner-up, lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
7
7
 Tomáš Berdych
4,660
720
720
4,660
 Semifinals lost to Andy Murray [6]
8
8
 Milos Raonic
4,575
90
360
4,845
 Quarterfinals lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
9
10
 David Ferrer
4,145
360
180
3,965
 Fourth round lost to Kei Nishikori [5]
10
11
 Grigor Dimitrov
3,645
360
180
3,465
 Fourth round lost to Andy Murray [6]
11
13
 Ernests Gulbis
2,455
45
10
2,420
 First round lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis [WC]
12
14
 Feliciano López
2,130
90
180
2,220
 Fourth round lost to Milos Raonic [8]
13
16
 Roberto Bautista Agut
2,110
180
45
1,975
 Second round lost to Gilles Müller
14
15
 Kevin Anderson
2,125
180
180
2,125
 Fourth round lost to Rafael Nadal [3]
15
17
 Tommy Robredo
2,015
180
10
1,845
 First round retired against Édouard Roger-Vasselin
16
18
 Fabio Fognini
1,790
180+80
10
1,540
 First round lost to Alejandro González
17
19
 Gaël Monfils
1,770
90
45
1,725
 Second round lost to Jerzy Janowicz
18
20
 Gilles Simon
1,730
90
90
1,730
 Third round lost to David Ferrer [9]
19
21
 John Isner
1,685
10
90
1,765
 Third round lost to Gilles Müller
20
22
 David Goffin
1,669
(35)+55†
45+35
1,659
 Second round lost to Marcos Baghdatis
21
23
 Alexandr Dolgopolov
1,455
45
10
1,420
 First round lost to Paolo Lorenzi
22
24
 Philipp Kohlschreiber
1,415
0
45
1,460
 Second round lost to Bernard Tomic
23
27
 Ivo Karlović
1,365
10
45
1,400
 Second round lost to Nick Kyrgios
24
28
 Richard Gasquet
1,350
90+40
90
1,310
 Third round lost to Kevin Anderson [14]
25
25
 Julien Benneteau
1,390
45
10
1,355
 First round lost to Benjamin Becker
26
26
 Leonardo Mayer
1,389
45
45
1,389
 Second round lost to Viktor Troicki
27
29
 Pablo Cuevas
1,227
(20)†
10
1,217
 First round lost to Matthias Bachinger [Q]
28
30
 Lukáš Rosol
1,210
10
45
1,245
 Second round lost to Dudi Sela
29
31
 Jérémy Chardy
1,195
90
45
1,150
 Second round lost to Andreas Seppi
30
32
 Santiago Giraldo
1,175
10
45
1,210
 Second round lost to Steve Johnson
31
33
 Fernando Verdasco
1,135
45
90
1,180
 Third round lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
32
34
 Martin Kližan
1,133
106
45
1,072
 Second round retired against João Sousa

The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew from the event.

Rank Player Points Before Points defending Points won Points after Withdrawal reason
9
 Marin Čilić
4,150
45
0
4,105
 Shoulder injury[18]
12
 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
2,740
180+40
0+40
2,520
 Forearm inflammation[19]

†The player did not qualify for the tournament in 2014. Accordingly, this was the 18th best result deducted instead.

Women's Singles
Seed Rank Player Points Before Points defending Points won Points after Status
1
1
 Serena Williams
8,016
240
2,000
9,776
 Champion, defeated Maria Sharapova [2]
2
2
 Maria Sharapova
7,335
240+185
1,300
8,210
 Runner-up, lost to Serena Williams [1]
3
3
 Simona Halep
6,571
430
430
6,571
 Quarterfinals lost to Ekaterina Makarova [10]
4
4
 Petra Kvitová
6,360
10
130
6,480
 Third round lost to Madison Keys
5
5
 Ana Ivanovic
4,845
430
10
4,425
 First round lost to Lucie Hradecká [Q]
6
6
 Agnieszka Radwańska
4,810
780
240
4,270
 Fourth round lost to Venus Williams [18]
7
7
 Eugenie Bouchard
4,715
780
430
4,365
 Quarterfinals lost to Maria Sharapova [2]
8
8
 Caroline Wozniacki
4,625
130
70
4,565
 Second round lost to Victoria Azarenka
9
9
 Angelique Kerber
3,360
240
10
3,130
 First round lost to Irina-Camelia Begu
10
11
 Ekaterina Makarova
2,970
240+280
780+55
3,285
 Semifinals lost to Maria Sharapova [2]
11
10
 Dominika Cibulková
3,007
1,300
430
2,137
 Quarterfinals lost to Serena Williams [1]
12
12
 Flavia Pennetta
2,861
430
10
2,441
 First round lost to Camila Giorgi
13
13
 Andrea Petkovic
2,780
10+100
10+55
2,735
 First round lost to Madison Brengle
14
14
 Sara Errani
2,735
10+305
130+1
2,551
 Third round lost to Yanina Wickmayer
15
15
 Jelena Janković
2,590
240
10
2,360
 First round lost to Timea Bacsinszky
16
16
 Lucie Šafářová
2,545
130
10
2,425
 First round lost to Yaroslava Shvedova
17
17
 Carla Suárez Navarro
2,415
130
10
2,295
 First round lost to Carina Witthöft
18
18
 Venus Williams
2,370
10
430
2,790
 Quarterfinals lost to Madison Keys
19
19
 Alizé Cornet
2,255
130+185
130+55
2,125
 Third round lost to Dominika Cibulková [11]
20
21
 Samantha Stosur
1,895
130
70
1,835
 Second round lost to Coco Vandeweghe
21
22
 Peng Shuai
1,880
10+60
240+30
2,080
 Fourth round lost to Maria Sharapova [2]
22
20
 Karolína Plíšková
2,075
70+180
130+60
2,015
 Third round lost to Ekaterina Makarova [10]
23
25
 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
1,820
130+470
10+1
1,231
 First round lost to Yanina Wickmayer
24
24
 Garbiñe Muguruza
1,845
240
240
1,845
 Fourth round lost to Serena Williams [1]
25
23
 Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová
1,870
70
130
1,930
 Third round lost to Victoria Azarenka
26
26
 Elina Svitolina
1,780
130+100
130+60
1,740
 Third round lost to Serena Williams [1]
27
27
 Svetlana Kuznetsova
1,730
10+30
10+1
1,701
 First round lost to Caroline Garcia
28
28
 Sabine Lisicki
1,681
70+30
10+1
1,592
 First round lost to Kristina Mladenovic
29
29
 Casey Dellacqua
1,542
240
70
1,372
 Second round lost to Madison Keys
30
30
 Varvara Lepchenko
1,480
70
130
1,540
 Third round lost to Agnieszka Radwańska [6]
31
31
 Zarina Diyas
1,460
170
130
1,420
 Third round lost to Maria Sharapova [2]
32
34
 Belinda Bencic
1,391
110+12
10+1
1,280
 First round lost to Julia Görges

Doubles seeds

Mixed Doubles
Team Rank1 Seed
Sania Mirza Bruno Soares 16 1
Katarina Srebotnik Marcelo Melo 18 2
Kristina Mladenovic Daniel Nestor 22 3
Andrea Hlaváčková Alexander Peya 25 4
Cara Black Juan Sebastián Cabal 26 5
Yaroslava Shvedova Nenad Zimonjić 28 6
Martina Hingis Leander Paes 34 7
Květa Peschke Marcin Matkowski 37 8
  • 1 Rankings are as of 12 January 2015.

Main draw wildcard entries
Main article: 2015 Australian Open – Main Draw Wildcard Entries

As part of an agreement between Tennis Australia, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the French Tennis Federation (FFT), one male and one female player from the United States and France received a wild card into the Australian Open singles event. USTA gave it to Denis Kudla and Irina Falconi, thanks to their positions in 2014 USTA Pro Circuit's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge standing,[20] while Lucas Pouille and Océane Dodin were chosen by internal FFT selection.[21]

Further four wildcards were awarded at Asia-Pacific Australian Open Wildcard Playoff into the men's and women's singles and doubles main draw events,[22] while Tennis Australia organized its own playoff competitions, where Jordan Thompson, Daria Gavrilova and Sam Thompson & Masa Jovanovic mixed doubles team received entries to Australian Open.[23]

Remaining wildcard places were filled by Australian internal selection.

Main draw qualifier entries

The qualifying competition took place in Melbourne Park on 14 – 17 January 2015.[24]

Protected ranking

The following players were accepted directly into the main draw using a protected ranking:

Withdrawals

The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament but withdrew.

Retirements
Men's Singles
gollark: Oops.
gollark: Overkill Reactor of Doom.
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gollark: It won't have the new changes, presumably.
gollark: I prefer NuclearCraft to the ReC reactors. The fission, anyway, its fusion reactor is boring.

References
  1. "Li Na announces retirement". wtatennis.com. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  2. Newbery, Piers. "Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to win fifth Australian Open title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  3. Clarey, Christopher. "Serena Williams Wins Australian Open With Coughs, Guts and Aces". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  4. Bergman, Justin. "Fognini, Bolelli Win Men's Doubles at Australian Open". ABC News. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  5. Bergman, Justin. "Mattek-Sands, Safarova Win Australian Open Doubles Title". ABC News. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  6. McCarvel, Nick. "Martina Hingis wins in mixed doubles at Australian Open". USA Today. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  7. "Melbourne Park Grounds Map" (PDF). Tennis.com.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  8. "Australian Open 2015 to stage revamped Margaret Court Arena". GiveMeSport.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  9. "What We Learned at The Australian Open". Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  10. "Broadcasting". AusOpen.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  11. "Video". AusOpen.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  12. "Watch Eugenie Bouchard 'twirl' after..." YouTube. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  13. Kevin Mitchell. "Eugenie Bouchard bounced into 'Twirlgate' by Australian reporter". the Molester. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  14. "Why Twirlgate Is So Much More Interesting Than Deflategate". espnW. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  15. Ravi Ubha (23 January 2015). "Australian Open: Eugenie Bouchard 'flexes muscles' over 'Twirlgate' - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  16. "Record prize money for Australian Open 2015". AusOpen.com. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  17. "Prize Money". AusOpen.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  18. "Marin Cilic: US Open champion withdraws from Australian Open". BBC.com. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  19. "Revenir dans les meilleures dispositions possibles!". jowiltsonga.fr. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  20. "2015 Australian Open Wild Card Challenge". USTA.com. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  21. "Open D'Australie Dodin et Pouille invites". Fédération Française de Tennis. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  22. "Australian Open wildcards for Chang and Zhang". Tennis Australia. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  23. "Australian Open Play-off". Tennis.com.au. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  24. "Tournament Schedule". AusOpen.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  25. https://www.facebook.com/jana.cepelova.official/posts/779169032167623:0
Preceded by
2014 US Open		 Grand Slams Succeeded by
2015 French Open
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