For the 2009 season, The Australian Open has just announced that it will increase its purse to as much as $15.6 million. This means that the winners of the men’s and women’s singles will receive an 18 percent increase in prize money. Tournament officials have said that depending on current exchange rates, the singles winners could receive approximately $1.15 million each.
The 2009 Australian Open will be held on January 19 – February 1, 2009. It will be the year’s first Grand Slam event and everyone is kept at the edge of their seats as to who whether Roger Federer will succeed in winning his 14th major title. And if he does, he will equal the record set by Pete Sampras.
Steve Wood, Tennis Australia’s chief executive, hopes that the attendance for the coming 2009 Australian Open will increase from this year’s attendance of 605,000.
On the other hand, tournament officials are also busy preparing for the Davis Cup finals. The finals between Argentina and Spain are said to be held at the Islas Malvinas Stadium in Mar del Plata. Argentina had proposed to hold the event on November 21-23 at the Orfeo Stadium.
This year’s Davis Cup final is the most challenging tournament to prepare for according to the chairman of the International Tennis Federation, Juan Margets. Argentina opts to hold the tournament on an indoor court in Cordoba, mostly to foster the strengths of their players, David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro.
No final decision has yet been made as to where the Davis Cup finals will be held. Both venues proposed by the Argentine team do not meet the ITF requirements of 12,000 seats. So far, Mar del Plata is the only venue that has passed ITF requirements.
