Australian Open hosting $70,000 Fortnite tournament

The Australian Open is once again holding its annual Summer Smash Fortnite tournament, with some big prize money on the line.

Tennis Australia has announced that the Australian Open Summer Smash featuring Fortnite will be returning this weekend, with a big prize pool on the line.

The Summer Smash is a Fortnite tournament set during the finals weekend of the Australian Open. First established in 2019, the tournament has seen Australians take home thousands of dollars by competing, and this year is no different.

Players who compete in the Summer Smash will have the chance to win up to $70,000 over the course of the tournament. The qualifier is set to be held on Saturday at 1pm AEDT, where the 80 best-performing players will qualify to compete in the finals, alongside 10 wildcard picks.

The finals, which will take place on Sunday at the same time, will have those players competing for a shot at the top prize. The tournament is open to anybody living in the Oceania region, although players might struggle to place, as Fortnite professionals like PWR’s Looter will be competing.

The Australian Open Summer Smash has been running since 2019. Photo: AAP Image/Natasha Morello

“I’m looking forward to competing in this year’s AO Summer Smash and improving my second place result at the 2021 AO Summer Smash LAN,” Looter said of the tournament, “The AO Tournament only happens once a year, and it’s a tournament with a huge prize pool that everyone looks forward to”.

Alongside the players’ tournament, there will also be a Summer Smash Creator event, where content creators will compete against each other to win a further $70,000 for charity. The creator event will include Australian streamers such as Lachlan, Loserfruit, and Lazarbeam, and will be held before the players’ tournament on Sunday morning.

Fortnite is known for its crossover content. Picture: Epic Games

Tennis Australia isn’t the only sporting body getting on board with video games. Aussie NBL jerseys were recently added to NBA 2K23, a first for the Australian basketball league. The jerseys are available to players across the world, with the NBL hoping it brings more eyes onto Aussie basketball.

In other sports game news, EA announced they’d be removing an “inappropriate” CPR emote from their NFL game, Madden NFL 23, following the collapse of Damar Hamlin in a match earlier in the month.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.