2016 Australian Open

The 2016 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair players competed in singles and doubles tournaments.

Novak Djokovic successfully defended the men's singles title and thus won a record-equaling sixth Australian Open title. Serena Williams was the defending champion in the women's singles but failed to defend her title, losing to Angelique Kerber in the final; by winning, Kerber became the first German player of any gender to win a Grand Slam title since Steffi Graf won her last such title at the 1999 French Open.

As in previous years, this year's tournament's title sponsor was Kia. This edition set a new attendance record for the tournament of 720,363.

Tournament


The 2016 Australian Open was the 104th 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 2016 ATP World Tour and the 2016 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 take place over a series of 25 courts, including the three main show courts: Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena and Margaret Court Arena.

Broadcast
In Australia, selected key matches were broadcast live by the Seven Network. The majority of matches were shown on the network's primary channel Channel Seven, however during news programming nationwide and most night matches in Perth, coverage shifted to either 7Two or 7mate. Additionally, every match was also available to be streamed live through a free 7Tennis mobile app.

Internationally, ESPN held the rights for America and Central America, broadcasting matches on ESPN2 and ESPN3 in the United States as well as regionally on ESPN International. ESPN also sub-licenses matches to Tennis Channel. Other broadcasters included beIN Sports in the Middle East, SuperSport in Africa, Eurosport through Europe (plus NOS Netherlands and SRG SSR in Switzerland), CCTV, iQiyi and SMG in China, Fiji One in Fiji, Sony ESPN in India, both Wowow and NHK in Japan, Sky in New Zealand and Fox Sports Asia in selected markets in the Asia Pacific region. In Canada, TSN broadcast matches across multiple channels.

Spectator safety
Spectator safety became a major issue during the tournament, with up to four separate cases reported:
 * On Day 2, play was suspended during the fourth set of Bernard Tomic's first round match against Denis Istomin for 20 minutes after an elderly spectator collapsed due to heat stress; she was subsequently treated with an EpiPen and taken away from Hisense Arena.
 * On Day 4, Ana Ivanovic's second round match against Anastasija Sevastova was interrupted in the first set when another elderly spectator fell down a set of stairs, delaying play by 25 minutes.
 * On Day 6, in the most serious case, Ivanovic was again involved in a match that had to be suspended, after her coach Nigel Sears suffered a heart attack during the second set of her match against Madison Keys. Sears, who is the father-in-law of Andy Murray, had to be stretchered out of the stands and play on Rod Laver Arena was suspended for an hour. Having led by a set and a break at the time, Ivanovic proceeded to lose the match in three sets. Sears was later taken to hospital where he eventually made a full recovery.
 * On Day 7, Sam Groth's mother fell down a set of stairs on Hisense Arena during the second set of her son and Lleyton Hewitt's doubles match against Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil, causing play to be suspended by 20 minutes. She was later able to walk out of the court unassisted.

Maria Sharapova doping controversy
On 7 March 2016, five weeks after the conclusion of the tournament, world number seven Maria Sharapova announced at a press conference in Los Angeles that she had failed a drug test following her quarter-final defeat by Serena Williams on 26 January. Sharapova confessed to taking the substance meldonium, which was placed on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances on 1 January; she was later suspended for two years (later reduced to fifteen months on appeal), backdated to 26 January, and was subsequently docked the $A375,000 she earned for reaching the quarter-finals.

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

Prize money
The Australian Open total prize money for 2016 was increased by four million Australian dollars to tournament record A$44,000,000.

1Qualifiers prize money was also the Round of 128 prize money.

* per team

Singles players
2016 Australian Open – Men's singles


 * 2016 Australian Open – Women's singles

Men's singles
Djokovic and Murray had faced one another 30 times prior to the final, with Djokovic victorious on 21 occasions. Murray had lost four Australian Open finals, three times to Djokovic, while the Serb had won the title five times. After an even first game, Djokovic broke Murray twice to lead 5–0, before Murray held. Djokovic took the winning game to secure the first set 6–1 in 30 minutes. The second set went with serve until Djokovic broke Murray to lead 4–3. The Scot broke back immediately and held his serve, but Djokovic broke in the eleventh game, then went on to hold serve, taking the second set 7–5. Djokovic broke the Murray serve in the first game of the third set, but Murray broke back to restore parity in the set at 3–3. The subsequent games went with serve and sent the set to a tie-break. Djokovic led 3–0 and 6–1 before finally securing the championship victory by three sets to love, with a 7–3 tie-break victory.
 * 🇷🇸 Novak Djokovic defeated 🇬🇧 Andy Murray, 6–1, 7–5, 7–6(7–3)

Women's singles

 * 🇩🇪 Angelique Kerber defeated 🇺🇸 Serena Williams, 6–4, 3–6, 6–4

Going into the final, Kerber and Williams had faced each other six times with Williams holding a 5–1 advantage. Kerber broke Williams in the third game of the first set with Williams breaking back to make it 3–3. Kerber immediately broke back and held serve to win the first set 6–4. Williams took advantage of the third of three break points in the fourth game of the second set, the remainder of the set going with serve, leveling the match at one set all. Kerber broke Williams in the second game of the final set, but Williams immediately broke back and held her own serve to level the deciding set at 2–2. Another break for Kerber saw her leading 5–2 but Williams broke back once again, taking the set to 5–4 to Kerber. A cross-court exchange described as "breathtaking" saw Williams hit the ball long, securing the title for Kerber.

Men's doubles

 * 🇬🇧 Jamie Murray / 🇧🇷 Bruno Soares defeated 🇨🇦 Daniel Nestor / 🇨🇿 Radek Štěpánek, 2–6, 6–4, 7–5

Women's doubles

 * Martina Hingis / 🇮🇳 Sania Mirza defeated 🇨🇿 Andrea Hlaváčková / 🇨🇿 Lucie Hradecká, 7–6(7–1), 6–3

Mixed doubles

 * 🇷🇺 Elena Vesnina / 🇧🇷 Bruno Soares defeated 🇺🇸 CoCo Vandeweghe / 🇷🇴 Horia Tecău, 6–4, 4–6, [10–5]

Boys' singles

 * 🇦🇺 Oliver Anderson defeated 🇺🇿 Jurabek Karimov, 6–2, 1–6, 6–1

Girls' singles

 * 🇧🇾 Vera Lapko defeated 🇸🇰 Tereza Mihalíková, 6–3, 6–4

Boys' doubles

 * 🇦🇺 Alex de Minaur / 🇦🇺 Blake Ellis defeated 🇸🇰 Lukáš Klein / 🇨🇿 Patrik Rikl, 3–6, 7–5, [12–10]

Girls' doubles

 * 🇷🇺 Anna Kalinskaya / 🇸🇰 Tereza Mihalíková defeated 🇺🇦 Dayana Yastremska / 🇺🇦 Anastasia Zarytska, 6–1, 6–1

Men's Legends doubles

 * 🇸🇪 Jonas Björkman / 🇸🇪 Thomas Johansson defeated 🇸🇪 Thomas Enqvist / 🇸🇪 Magnus Norman, 4–3(5–4), 1–4, 4–3(5–3)

Wheelchair men's singles

 * 🇬🇧 Gordon Reid defeated 🇧🇪 Joachim Gérard, 7–6(9–7), 6–4

Wheelchair women's singles

 * Jiske Griffioen defeated Aniek van Koot, 6–3, 7–5

Wheelchair quad singles

 * 🇦🇺 Dylan Alcott defeated 🇺🇸 David Wagner, 6–2, 6–2

Wheelchair men's doubles

 * 🇫🇷 Stéphane Houdet / 🇫🇷 Nicolas Peifer defeated 🇬🇧 Gordon Reid / 🇯🇵 Shingo Kunieda, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5

Wheelchair women's doubles

 * Marjolein Buis / 🇯🇵 Yui Kamiji defeated Jiske Griffioen /  Aniek van Koot, 6–2, 6–2

Wheelchair quad doubles

 * Lucas Sithole / 🇺🇸 David Wagner defeated 🇦🇺 Dylan Alcott / 🇬🇧 Andrew Lapthorne, 6–1, 6–3

Singles seeds
The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seeding are arranged according to ATP and WTA rankings on 11 January 2016, while ranking and points before are as of 18 January 2016.

Men's singles
The following player would have been seeded, but he withdrew from the event.

Women's singles
The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew or not entered from the event.

Men's doubles

 * 1 Rankings were as of 11 January 2016.

Women's doubles

 * 1 Rankings were as of 11 January 2016.

Mixed doubles

 * 1 Rankings were as of 18 January 2016.

Men's singles

 * 🇦🇺 James Duckworth
 * 🇦🇺 Matthew Ebden
 * 🇫🇷 Quentin Halys
 * 🇦🇺 Lleyton Hewitt
 * 🇦🇺 Omar Jasika
 * 🇯🇵 Yoshihito Nishioka
 * 🇺🇸 Noah Rubin
 * 🇦🇺 Jordan Thompson

Women's singles

 * 🇦🇺 Kimberly Birrell
 * 🇺🇸 Samantha Crawford
 * 🇫🇷 Océane Dodin
 * 🇨🇳 Han Xinyun
 * 🇦🇺 Priscilla Hon
 * 🇦🇺 Maddison Inglis
 * 🇦🇺 Tammi Patterson
 * 🇦🇺 Storm Sanders

Men's doubles

 * 🇦🇺 Alex Bolt / 🇦🇺 Andrew Whittington
 * 🇦🇺 James Duckworth / 🇦🇺 John Millman
 * 🇦🇺 Sam Groth / 🇦🇺 Lleyton Hewitt
 * Hsieh Cheng-peng / Yang Tsung-hua
 * 🇦🇺 Omar Jasika / 🇦🇺 Nick Kyrgios
 * 🇺🇸 Austin Krajicek / 🇺🇸 Donald Young
 * 🇦🇺 Luke Saville / 🇦🇺 John-Patrick Smith

Women's doubles

 * 🇯🇵 Shuko Aoyama / 🇯🇵 Makoto Ninomiya
 * 🇦🇺 Alison Bai / 🇦🇺 Naiktha Bains
 * 🇦🇺 Kimberly Birrell / 🇦🇺 Priscilla Hon
 * 🇸🇰 Daniela Hantuchová / 🇦🇺 Jarmila Wolfe (withdrew)
 * 🇦🇺 Jessica Moore / 🇦🇺 Storm Sanders
 * 🇦🇺 Tammi Patterson / 🇦🇺 Olivia Rogowska
 * 🇦🇺 Ellen Perez / 🇦🇺 Belinda Woolcock

Mixed doubles

 * 🇦🇺 Kimberly Birrell / 🇦🇺 John Millman
 * 🇦🇺 Daria Gavrilova / 🇦🇺 Luke Saville
 * 🇦🇺 Maddison Inglis / 🇦🇺 Benjamin Mitchell
 * 🇦🇺 Jessica Moore / 🇦🇺 Marc Polmans
 * 🇦🇺 Anastasia Rodionova / 🇦🇺 Chris Guccione
 * 🇦🇺 Arina Rodionova / 🇦🇺 Matt Reid
 * 🇦🇺 Ajla Tomljanović / 🇦🇺 Nick Kyrgios
 * 🇨🇳 Zheng Saisai / 🇰🇷 Chung Hyeon

Main draw qualifier entries
The qualifying competition took place in Melbourne Park on 13 – 16 January 2016.

Men's singles

 * 🇬🇧 Daniel Evans
 * 🇸🇰 Jozef Kovalík
 * 🇺🇸 Tim Smyczek
 * 🇨🇳 Wu Di
 * 🇨🇿 Radek Štěpánek
 * 🇧🇦 Mirza Bašić
 * 🇺🇸 Ryan Harrison
 * 🇩🇪 Peter Gojowczyk
 * 🇺🇸 Taylor Fritz
 * 🇩🇪 Daniel Brands
 * 🇫🇷 Pierre-Hugues Herbert
 * 🇯🇵 Yūichi Sugita
 * 🇯🇵 Tatsuma Ito
 * 🇫🇷 Stéphane Robert
 * 🇦🇷 Marco Trungelliti
 * 🇦🇷 Renzo Olivo

Lucky loser

 * 🇺🇸 Bjorn Fratangelo

Women's singles

 * 🇨🇳 Wang Qiang
 * 🇺🇸 Nicole Gibbs
 * 🇨🇳 Wang Yafan
 * 🇯🇵 Naomi Osaka
 * Anastasija Sevastova
 * 🇨🇳 Zhang Shuai
 * 🇨🇿 Kristýna Plíšková
 * Viktorija Golubic
 * 🇹🇭 Luksika Kumkhum
 * 🇺🇦 Maryna Zanevska
 * Maria Sakkari
 * 🇦🇹 Tamira Paszek

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


 * Men's singles
 * 🇺🇸 Brian Baker (PR 56)
 * 🇫🇷 Julien Benneteau (PR 39)
 * 🇷🇺 Dmitry Tursunov (PR 89)


 * Women's singles
 * 🇨🇿 Petra Cetkovská (PR 54)
 * 🇺🇸 Vania King (PR 73)

Withdrawals
The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament, but withdrew with injuries and personal reasons.
 * Before the tournament


 * Men's singles
 * 🇫🇷 Richard Gasquet → replaced by Kyle Edmund
 * 🇩🇪 Tommy Haas → replaced by Nikoloz Basilashvili
 * 🇦🇹 Andreas Haider-Maurer → replaced by 🇺🇸 Austin Krajicek
 * 🇦🇺 Thanasi Kokkinakis → replaced by 🇷🇸 Filip Krajinović
 * Lu Yen-hsun → replaced by 🇺🇸 Bjorn Fratangelo
 * 🇦🇷 Juan Mónaco → replaced by 🇮🇱 Dudi Sela
 * 🇷🇸 Janko Tipsarević → replaced by 🇹🇳 Malek Jaziri


 * Women's singles
 * 🇷🇺 Alisa Kleybanova → replaced by 🇷🇺 Elizaveta Kulichkova
 * 🇮🇹 Karin Knapp → replaced by 🇧🇾 Aliaksandra Sasnovich
 * 🇮🇹 Flavia Pennetta → replaced by Donna Vekić
 * 🇨🇿 Lucie Šafářová → replaced by 🇦🇺 Jarmila Wolfe
 * 🇰🇿 Galina Voskoboeva → replaced by Kiki Bertens

Retirements

 * Men's singles
 * Kevin Anderson
 * Ivo Karlović
 * 🇷🇸 Filip Krajinović
 * 🇺🇸 Sam Querrey
 * 🇷🇺 Dmitry Tursunov


 * Women's singles
 * 🇨🇴 Mariana Duque Mariño
 * 🇷🇺 Elizaveta Kulichkova
 * 🇸🇰 Magdaléna Rybáriková
 * 🇦🇺 Jarmila Wolfe