As usual, the 2018 Brisbane International presented by Suncorp served up thrills and spills aplenty, with Nick Kyrgios’s victory in the men’s final on Sunday night setting the seal on eight days of world-class tennis action.
Below are some facts and figures which highlight the depth and breadth of the Brisbane International, which has been serving up success for the past 10 years.
- Men’s champion Nick Kyrgios hit the most aces during the tournament with 67, including 17 in the final. Next best was runner-up Ryan Harrison, who struck 61 aces.
- Big-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic and American Madison Keys clocked the quickest serves, with 234km/h and 192km/h respectively.
- The latest finish came in the early hours of Friday morning, as Grigor Dimitrov edged past spirited Aussie John Millman as the clock struck 12.26 am.
- A total of five matches lasted longer than two-and-a-half hours, with Brit Kyle Edmund featuring in two of them in the space of three days. His quarterfinal tussle with Dimitrov lasted 158 minutes, bringing Edmund’s total time spent on court to 7 hours and 34 minutes in just three matches.
- Attendances were again strong across the week, with Tuesday attracting the biggest crowd as 14,278 fans streamed through the gates, while Saturday set a day session record with 6855 spectators turning out to watch both Alex de Minaur and Kyrgios. A total of 90,252 fans attended the eight days of action.
- The volunteers are the unsung heroes of any event, with a total of 414 toiling away day and night to ensure the tournament ran as smoothly as possible.
- Included in this number were 71 courtesy car drivers in charge of a 24-strong fleet of Peugeot vehicles, ensuring players and tournament officials alike made it to and from Queensland Tennis Centre on time.
- They clocked up a total of 4318 hours; transferred 1493 guests; and covered 65,502km.
- A total of 104 Suncorp ballkids volunteered for the tournament.
- The racquet stringers had their work cut out, starting at 7am and, the night of Dimitrov’s titanic tussle with Millman, not clocking off until 3am.
- In total, they used more than 10km of string on 1020 racquets, a record number for the tournament. Dimitrov accounted for the highest number, getting 42 racquets restrung.
- It was not just the people who attended the tournament who were treated to some superb action, as host broadcasters Channel 7 showed more than 70 hours of tennis across their three channels.
- Additionally, 11 associative networks across the globe connected a further 228 countries to the action at Queensland Tennis Centre, while more than 75 members of the media covered the first tournament of the 2018 Australian summer of tennis.
- The tournament’s official social media channels also kept fans up to date on what was happening during the week. Kyrgios and Elina Svitolina’s maiden Brisbane triumphs shone brightest, as the follower numbers hit some landmarks on Facebook (80,000), Twitter (30,000) and Instagram (14,000).
- The biggest numbers across all channels were reserved for Dimitrov, however. Not for a victory or a stunning shot – but for a brilliant act of sportsmanship. His leap over the net to help an injured Kyle Edmund was viewed nearly 140,000 times across the official channels, and replayed around the world.
- And let’s not forget De Minaur. His magical run in Brisbane captured the imagination, with his upset win over Raonicthe most-watched clip on Facebook.
- On Twitter, 4.64 million Tweet impressions were generated, while posts on Facebook reached nearly 1.5 million people.