Kooyong Classic back on the summer tennis calendar

Some of the biggest names in tennis have made their way to the Australian Open through a tournament that is back after being scrapped.

The Kooyong Classic is back on the summer tennis calendar as a lead-in event to the 2026 Australian Open after a one-year hiatus.

An event that has been a staple of the build-up to the year’s opening grand slam in Melbourne, the Kooyong Classic will return to the historic Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club from January 13-15.

While a line-up for the event, which turned from tournament to exhibition event amid the growing emergence of other playing opportunities for those on their way to Melbourne Park, is yet to be confirmed, director Peter Johnston said “fans had missed it” after it wasn’t played in January.

“And this is an opportunity to reinvigorate the event while staying true to its tradition,” he said.

“We are building new collaborations with some fantastic brands, ensuring the tournament’s continued growth and success.”

Sir Andy Murray played at Kooyong in 2024. Picture: Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images

First played in 1988, after the Australian Open was moved from Kooyong to Melbourne Park, the event has attracted some of the biggest names in tennis.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Nick Kyrgios, Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick are among those to have taken to what were grass courts before the centre court was transformed to match the hard courts players would be playing on at the Open.

The Kooyong Classic wasn’t played for three years during the Covid pandemic and scrapped this year when the tennis club opted against managing the event themselves after an external audit uncovered a disastrous $2.4m “accounting loss” from its operations in late 2023.

Former Essendon chief executive Ian Robson was appointed as Kooyong’s chief executive and now a deal with Spanish multimedia company Grup Mediapro and a free-to-air broadcast deal with SBS have enabled the tournament to return.

Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club is regarded as the spiritual home of tennis in Australia, having once hosted both the Australian Open and iconic Davis Cup ties.

Originally published as Kooyong Classic back on the summer tennis calendar