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top 5 australian open moments
As the Australian Open gets set to take over Melbourne’s Rob Laver Arena (pictured above) this 16 to 29 January, we take a stroll down memory lane to reveal our top five Australian Open moments. By Shane Conroy
1990:
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McENROE IS DISQUALIFIED
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John McEnroe was infamous for his short on-court fuse, and his temper was on full display during the 1990 Australian Open. Early in his fourth round match against Mikael Pernfors, the perennial bad boy of tennis was cited for intimidating a lineswoman. McEnroe’s second warning came in the fourth set when chair umpire Gerry Armstrong cited him for racquet abuse. That was enough for the US tennis star to completely
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blow his stack and he berated Armstrong for an extended period. That was strike three and McEnroe became the first misbehaving player to be disqualified from a Grand Slam event since 1963. To add insult to injury, he was leading Pernfors when he was disqualified.
1993: SELES REIGNS SUPREME
the match ranked number-one in the world, but Graf asked plenty of questions of the defending champ as the tightlycontested match was fought out predominately from the base line. But Seles would eventually reign supreme, winning her third straight Australian Open title. The win would also mark her eighth Grand Slam title out of the last 11 she’d competed in.
One of the fiercest rivalries in women’s tennis came to a 1995: climax when Monica Seles met Steffi Graf in the final of the 1993 SAMPRAS BREAKS DOWN US tennis champion Pete Australian Open. Seles entered
22/10/2016 13:12:34