News & Media

Brisbane International 2016 – The final serve

11 January 2016, by Brisbane International Tennis

A crowd of almost 100,000 fans turned out to share in eight days of on-court action and off-court entertainment at Brisbane International 2016 presented by Suncorp, where Milos Raonic (CAN) and Victoria Azarenka (BLR) were crowned men’s and women’s singles champions.

After eight days of world class action at Queensland Tennis Centre, this is the final serve.

On-court action

  • Milos Raonic (CAN) claimed his maiden Brisbane International crown and eighth ATP title with a win over top seed and defending champion Roger Federer (SUI). The world No.14 overcame the Swiss master 6-4 6-4, just his second win over the 17-time Grand Slam champion in 11 meetings.
  • World No.22 Victoria Azarenka (BLR) won her second Brisbane International trophy and 18th career title, defeating fourth seed Angelique Kerber (GER) 6-3 6-1. Azarenka took out the inaugural Brisbane International title in 2009 and joins Andy Murray (GBR) and Serena Williams (USA) as the only players to have won multiple Brisbane crowns.
  • Second seeds Henri Kontinen (FIN) and John Peers (Vic) won the men’s doubles final over all-Aussie wildcard duo James Duckworth (NSW) and Chris Guccione (Vic) 7-6(4) 6-1, the pair collecting their maiden ATP doubles title in their first ever tournament together. It was Peers’ second Brisbane title after clinching the silverware with former doubles partner Jamie Murray (GBR) in 2015.
  • World No.1 pair Martina Hingis (SUI) and Sania Mirza (IND) won the women’s doubles title with a 7-5 6-1 win over German duo Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic. Kerber was the first female in tournament history to reach both the singles and doubles finals. It was the second time both Hingis and Mirza had won the women’s doubles event, with Hingis securing victory alongside Sabine Lisicki (GER) in 2015 and Mirza teaming with Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) for top honours in 2013.
  • There were four Grand Slam champions with a collective 21 Grand Slam singles titles in the men’s and women’s singles main draw: Roger Federer 17 (SUI), Marin Cilic 1 (CRO), Victoria Azarenka 2 (BLR) and Sam Stosur 1 (Qld).
  • Grand Slam champions Pat Cash (Vic) and Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) contested the inaugural FAST4 legends showdown prior to the women’s singles final.
  • Twenty-three nations were represented among the 58 players competing in the singles main draw. There were 18 countries represented in the men’s singles and 15 in the women’s singles draw.
  • Nine Australians competed in the singles main draw; six in the men’s and three in the women’s. Seven Queenslanders featured in singles action, the highest number in tournament history.
  • Sixty-five sets were played in 27 matches in the men’s singles draw, with 10 matches (37 per cent) going to three sets. In 29 matches in the women’s singles draw a total of 67 sets were played, with nine matches (31 per cent) going to three sets.
  • Milos Raonic (CAN) clocked the fastest serve of the tournament at 234 km/h and Camila Giorgi (ITA) recorded the fastest serve of the women’s draw at 186 km/h.
  • A total of 332 aces were served on Pat Rafter Arena, with tournament partner Treasury Casino & Hotel donating $83,000 to Ronald McDonald House South East Queensland as part of the Aces for Hearts initiative. The ATP Aces for Charity program contributed an additional US$15,000 to the cause for an overall total of more than $100,000.
  • Tennis legend Mal Anderson was named an Icon of Queensland Tennis at a special ceremony on Pat Rafter Arena, joining fellow Queensland greats Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Ashley Cooper in the elite group. A commemorative bust in Anderson’s honour will be permanently displayed at Queensland Tennis Centre.
  • Australian tennis greats Rod Laver and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley presented the Roy Emerson Trophy and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley Trophy to the men’s and women’s singles champions respectively.
  • Thirty-two schools contested the Brisbane International Schools’ Challenge Finals on court at Queensland Tennis Centre. Pacific Pines State Primary School won the green ball competition, Fig Tree Pocket State School won the orange ball competition and Brookfield State School took out the red ball competition for the third year running.

Attendance

  • A massive crowd of 96,045 fans attended Brisbane International 2016, the third highest total in tournament history. The all-time event record stands at 105,730 set in 2014.
  • Famous faces in the crowd included Australian tennis greats Ashley Cooper, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, singer Nicole Scherzinger, model Danielle Knudson, golfer Adam Scott, Olympians Sally Pearson (athletics), Kieren Perkins (swimming), Bronte and Cate Campbell (swimming), Emily Seebohm (swimming), Libby Trickett (swimming) and motor racing champion Craig Lowndes.

Digital

  • The most engaging post of the tournament was a video clip of Roger Federer (SUI) playing tennis with a giant racquet on Suncorp Kids Tennis Day, retweeted 472 times and attracting 784 likes.
  • Vision of press conferences, match highlights, practice sessions and more was uploaded to the tournament’s official YouTube channel, which attracted more than 560,000 views during the tournament period.
  • The most watched video – Roger Federer (SUI) supersizes his racquet on Suncorp Kids Tennis Day – was viewed more than 165,000 times, with the tournament channel accruing more than 700 new subscribers throughout the week.

Tournament operations

  • A team of 634 staff, including 534 volunteers and 100 officials, worked behind the scenes to deliver the event.
  • The stringers hut restrung 894 racquets, using just under 9km of string.
  • Victoria Azarenka (BLR) had the most racquets restrung of any player in the main draw, sending almost 40 racquets to the stringers.
  • Matches were officiated by 100 umpires and linespersons from around Australia and overseas. Twenty international officials attended the event from 14 countries including Croatia, Norway, Sweden, Italy, South Africa, China and Korea.
  • There were 121 ballkids aged 12 to 17 in the Suncorp ballkids squad.
  • A total of 12,468 Wilson tennis balls were used throughout the event.
  • Fans enjoyed a wide selection of food and beverages including more than 30,000 serves of strawberries and ice cream and more than 30,000 bottles of Mount Franklin water.
  • The Player Café served an average of 150 portions of pasta every day of the event.
  • Players were transported by a fleet of 25 Volkswagen cars during the tournament, with more than 4,314 hours of driving time clocked up by the team of 64 volunteer drivers.
  • One hundred and twenty-five televisions were installed around the precinct, keeping spectators, officials and the media up to date with all the on-court action, scores and results.

Community tennis

  • A record crowd attended Suncorp Kids Tennis Day on Sunday 3 January, highlighted by appearances from Roger Federer (SUI), Radek Stepanek (CZE), Bernard Tomic (Qld), Garbine Muguruza (ESP), Victoria Azarenka (BLR) and Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP), as well as Aussie music act At Sunset and Nickelodeon favourites Spongebob SquarePants, Dora and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
  • Hundreds of junior fans joined players including Bernard Tomic (Qld), Steve Johnson (USA), James Duckworth (NSW), Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP), Varvara Lepchenko (USA) and Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) for a hit of Hot Shots on court at Queensland Tennis Centre.
  • Wendy Turnbull was joined by Queensland young gun Bernard Tomic at the official opening of the Wendy Turnbull Green at Roy Emerson Tennis Centre.
  • An estimated 2000 fans, including tennis legend Pat Cash, visited the FAST4 activation on Tennis Central.