Tennis Australia has secured another five-year sponsorship with Emirates worth an estimated $35 million for the Australian Open Grand Slam, and the airline’s marketing chief has revealed the real reasons it dropped two other Melbourne sporting fixtures, Formula One and the Melbourne Cup.

Tennis Australia and Emirates do not put a specific dollar value on the deal, but market research company ResearchAndMarkets.com estimates deals with Open sponsors Emirates, ANZ and Rolex would each be worth more than $7 million annually.