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This time every year, Melbourne goes a bit tennis-mad.
The Australian Open has become so firmly embedded in the city’s annual calendar it’s hard to imagine summer there without it.
It’s therefore easy to forget the event used to be rotated around the country. Despite its name, it’s even been held outside Australia, just across the ditch.
The tournament’s host city isn’t the only thing that’s evolved over the years. The glitzy grand-slam as we know it was once a low-budget affair at the Perth Zoo, of all places.
While its history makes for fascinating reading, the future of the Australian Open is also well worth considering. As Hunter Fujak writes, climate changes looms large over the tournament’s coming decades.
“Severe heat is not just a risk for athletes, but attendees. During the 2014 tournament for instance, 970 attendees were treated for heat exhaustion on a single day when the temperatures hit 42 degrees. A ball kid also fainted.”
A once-struggling competition has come a long way over the last century, but it’s clear the next century will bring its own unique challenges.
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Erin Cooper-Douglas
Deputy Politics + Society Editor
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Hunter Fujak, Deakin University
The tournament has proven to be very resilient throughout its history, but its greatest challenges may lie ahead.
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Weekend long reads
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Ari Mattes, University of Notre Dame Australia
Peter Benchley’s classic 1974 ‘man versus beast’ blockbuster novel doubled as a scathing critique of 1970s America. Spielberg’s film made its characters likeable – and its tone into a ‘grand adventure’.
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Alexander Howard, University of Sydney
Alexander Howard stumbled on spymaster John Le Carré soon after relishing a James Bond film. And he was instantly hooked on George Smiley, Le Carré’s unglamorous bureaucrat-detective – an unlikely hero.
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Jamie Q Roberts, University of Sydney
In his essays, Walter Benjamin sought to understand the nature of modernity. He drew on Marxism but was not contained by it, ranging across literature, art, popular culture, even Jewish mysticism.
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Michelle Hamadache, Macquarie University
In her prose and her poetry, Sara M. Saleh renders unique the ways people resist, transcend, adapt, make the best of things, compromise, endure, and lose hope and faith.
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Nick Haslam, The University of Melbourne
Christopher Lasch’s sharp-tonged a critique of American society was a product of its time, but has things to say about the present.
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Dr Rachel Hennessy, The University of Melbourne; Alex Cothren, Flinders University; Amy T Matthews, Flinders University
Research suggests the act of creative writing can have therapeutic benefits.
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Our most-read article this week
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Rietie Venter, University of South Australia
While every week or two will generally suffice for sheets, towels are best washed every few days. A microbiologist explains.
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In case you missed this week's big stories
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Ian Parmeter, Australian National University
Israel has seen limited success in its primary war aims, while Hamas can claim a partial victory because it is still standing. But is the conflict headed towards a stalemate?
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Donald Rothwell, Australian National University
Today, hearings will begin in the International Court of Justice, where South Africa is accusing Israel of genocide in Palestine. How will the proceedings work, and what does it mean for the war?
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Adrian Esterman, University of South Australia
Another year, another COVID wave. Here’s what we know about what the virus is doing around the country.
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Garritt C Van Dyk, University of Newcastle
Pressure for greater transparency by food producers and retailers about costs is increasing as rising grocery prices hit the hip pocket.
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Sanjoy Paul, University of Technology Sydney
An increase in global tensions is placing at risk the free flow of goods traded around the world.
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Derek T. Muller, University of Notre Dame
The US Supreme Court faces a case with huge repercussions for the 2024 presidential election – and American democracy. An election law scholar explains why.
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Gemma Loomes, Keele University
There are reasons to hold off until the autumn – but there are other clues that still point towards May.
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Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Australian Catholic University
Queen Margrethe II’s abdication ceremony is scheduled for this Sunday, the 52nd anniversary of her accession to the throne.
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Anna Bruce, UNSW Sydney; Baran Yildiz, UNSW Sydney; Dani Alexander, UNSW Sydney; Mike Roberts, UNSW Sydney
Australia leads the world in rooftop solar per head. Can this small-scale power source be the secret weapon to fire up our struggling transition to net zero?
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Juliana Zabatiero, Curtin University; Kate Highfield, University of Canberra; Leon Straker, Curtin University; Susan Edwards, Australian Catholic University
For many families, there is a daily battle around getting kids off their screens and back into real life.
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Albert Van Dijk, Australian National University
The impacts of record heat on the global water cycle were severe and wide-ranging – and the trend will continue in 2024.
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Ana Stevenson, University of Southern Queensland; Lindsay Helwig, University of Southern Queensland
Glynis Johns, most famous for her role as the suffragette mother Mrs Winifred Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), passed away last week at the age of 100.
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The Conversation AU
Melbourne Victoria, Australia
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The Conversation AU
Melbourne VIC, Australia
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