The 1979 Australian Open was a

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

tournament played on outdoor

grass court A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. Although grass c ...

s at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in Australia and was held from 24 December 1979 through 2 January 1980. It was the 68th edition of the Australian Open and the fourth

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

tournament of the year. The singles titles were won by Argentinian

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

and American

Barbara Jordan Barbara Charline Jordan (February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996) was an American lawyer, educator, and politician. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first Southern African-A ...

Seniors

Men's singles

defeated

John Sadri John Sadri (born September 19, 1956) is a former tennis player from the United States. Sadri, an All-American at North Carolina State, reached the finals of the 1978 men's NCAA singles championship, losing to John McEnroe in four sets.https://w ...

, 7–6^(7–4), 6–3, 6–2 :• It was Vilas' 4th and last career Grand Slam singles title and his 2nd title at the Australian Open.

Women's singles

defeated

Sharon Walsh Sharon Walsh-Arnold (née Walsh; born February 24, 1952) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Walsh enjoyed a long career, playing her first Grand Slam singles event in 1969 and her last Grand Slam doubles match in 1990 ...

, 6–3, 6–3 :• It was Jordan's 1st and only career Grand Slam singles title.

Men's doubles

Peter McNamara Peter McNamara (5 July 1955 – 20 July 2019) was an Australian tennis player and coach. McNamara won five singles titles and nineteen doubles titles in his career. A right-hander, McNamara reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 14 March ...

Paul McNamee Paul McNamee (born 12 November 1954) is an Australian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player and prominent sports administrator. Tennis career Juniors In his hometown, McNamee won the boys' singles tournament at the 1973 Australian Open. ...

defeated

Paul Kronk Paul Kronk (born 22 September 1954) is a former tennis player from Australia. Kronk won seven doubles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest singles ATP ranking on 25 April 1976, when he was No. 78 in the w ...

Cliff Letcher Cliff Letcher (born 9 February 1952) was a former professional tennis player from Australia. He played Davis Cup for Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Cent ...

, 7–6, 6–2 :• It was McNamara's 1st career Grand Slam doubles title. :• It was McNamee's 1st career Grand Slam doubles title.

Women's doubles

Judy Connor Chaloner / Diane Evers defeated

Leanne Harrison Leanne Harrison (born 10 April 1958) is a retired tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis ra ...

Marcella Mesker Marcella Mesker (born 23 May 1959) is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands. Mesker was active on the WTA Tour from 1979 to 1988 and reached the final of the Australian Open Women's Doubles in 1979. She also reached the semi ...

, 6–1, 3–6, 6–0 :• It was Connor's 1st and only career Grand Slam doubles title. :• It was Evers's 1st and only career Grand Slam doubles title.

Mixed doubles

This event was not held from

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

until

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Open,1979 December 1979 sports events in Australia January 1980 sports events in Australia 1979,Australian Open