Opened: January 1988
The 15,000 seat National Tennis Centre was opened in 1988 as a replacement for Kooyong Stadium to host the Australian Open, a Grand Slam event that has been held in Melbourne since 1905.
(Picture of Rod Laver Arena during the 2014 Australian Open)
Built on parkland in Richmond, less than 1km from Melbourne's CBD, the stadium was conceived in 1985 in order to allow the Australian Open to catch up with world Grand Slam standards. The National Tennis Centre Trust was established by Parliament in order to manage the project.
In 1988 the stadium, featuring a retractable roof, was opened for the Australian Open. The crowd for that event was over 260,000 and was won by Steffi Graf and Mats Wilander. On February 4 that year, AC/DC played the first concer at the venue.
In January 2000, the stadium was renamed Rod Laver Arena to honour three time Australian Open champion Rod Laver.
It currently hosts over 1.5 million people every year for the Australian Open Tennis, music concerts, conferences and other sports. It also hosted the gymnastic events of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Related:
Albert Cricket Ground
Margaret Court Arena
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