Women's Tennis : 5 oldest Australian Open Champions
Australian Open organized its first Women's Singles Championship in 1922, 17 years after it was a male-only event. Until 1972, the event was held in multiple cities with Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide all playing host to the event. From 1972 to 1988, the tournament was played in the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club before being moved to the Melbourne Park in 1988. For a brief time, just like in the Men's event, the Women's event was also decided in a best-of-five set format before switching over to the best-of-three format.
Margaret Court Smith is the most successful Champion having won a record 11 titles here. Originally named Show Court One, the second biggest tennis arena in Melbourne was re-named in her honor as Margaret Court Arena in 2003. In the Open Era, Serena Williams leads with 7 titles.
The winner takes home the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Replica trophy named in honor of the 5-time Australian Open Champion. The 2018 winner Caroline Wozniacki took home a cool 4 million Australian Dollar in Prize Money. Serena Williams has confirmed her participation in the 2019 edition of the tournament making a fresh bid to set the all-time Grand Slam tally record. We take a look back at 5 of the oldest Australian Open Singles' Champions.
#5 Li Na
Chinese woman Li Na is the first athlete from Asia to win a Grand Slam Singles title. She achieved this feat at the 2011 French Open. Li Na is widely credited with popularizing the sport of tennis in China much like the way Yao Ming helped popularize basketball in China.
Li Na won the 2014 Australian Open beating Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets in the final. She attained a career-high WTA ranking of Number 2 in February 2014 before retiring from the sport in September. Her Australian Open triumph came when she was 31 years,333 days old.