Another stadium to add to the demolished stadiums section..(actually,someone in Sydney might be able to confirm if it is already demolished...Im not sure)

White City Tennis Stadium-

Was the former home of NSW Tennis before they moved to Homebush.Incredibly,with the use of temp stands,it actually still hold the World Record attendance for a tennis match of over 25,000 for a Davis Cup tie in the 1950s.Also has held the Australian Open many times.Quite a historical and significant Stadium

On the subject of tennis, where was the Australian Open held in Melbourne before the construction of Melbourne Park in 1988?

Before Melbourne Park, the Aus Open was held at Kooyong Tennis Centre (http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=60). Now home of the Commonwealth International a.k.a. the Kooyong Classic.

Ok thanks!

Havent seen that before (not a HUGE tennis fan), but it does look very nice!

Before that, the Aus Open was in Brisbane wasnt it??

Before Kooyong in 1972,the Australian Open was also held in Sydney,Brisbane and Adelaide.AS Kooyong was at the time, the largest venue,they decided(like the other slams) they needed a permanent venue.Flinders Park(aka Melbourne Park) ws built because there was a chance Kooyong would lose out to another Australian city and /or Australia would lose its Grand slam status.It nearly happened.

That's right Dan. But further, The Australian Open was also held in Perth. All five mainland capital cities hosted the tournament on a rotating basis.

The Australian Open was viewed as a Minor Major. It was still a Grand Slam but it ddn't have the importance in the players eyes (non-Australian players) as the other three Slams. In fact, under Ford, it was the only Grand Slam to have a naming rights sponsor, something very "improper" in the Tennis world. They have sinced dropped it.

Thus many big name overseas stars would regularly shun the tournament. Names such as McEnroe, Connors, Borg, Nastase wouldn't make the trip every year, if at all. Even Andre Agassi didn't start coming here until 1995. It has only been with the move to Flinders Park (the other name is cheap Kennett trash with no regard for history) and increased prizemoney to the level of the other slams that the players have paid more attention to it.

For the recrd White City still exists. It was named White City after a theme park in London of the same name. Before the Tennis Club, a theme park was located on the site. This was around the late 1800s early 1900s. The centre court still looks the same as the photo above. It is a bit like Kooyong now. Used for the Tennis Club members only (of course Kooyong has the Commbank International). It is an exclusive Tennis Club much the same as Kooyong is set in Sydney's leafy and rich eastern suburbs.

http://203.147.207.2/your_area/halls.asp says the club has 18 grass courts, 6 rebound ace courts and 6 synthetic grass courts.

It is a great complex. There were plans for Kerry Packer to buy the club lands north of the canal that runs right through the complex, and for hm to devlop the property with apartments. But I think resident backlashes killed that idea off. The council wouldn't approve.

I always liked the place. Very cosy and historical unlike the Homebush facility. But Homebush is growing on me and I do feel the Move away from Paddington was necssary. It isn't demolished. Don't put it in taht section if you guys do add it to the site

I believe the Australian Open was even held at Auckland a couple of times way back when Australia & NZ competed internationally in many sports as Australasia.
Thank God they went ahead and built Flinders Park and also moved the Australian Open a year before that to January for the last Open at Kooyong. The major reason that most of the top players regularly shunned the Australian Open until the late 80's was that it was held over Christmas. As if players wanted to spend Christmas away from home. John McEnroe said during this years Australian Open that the only reason he began coming in 1983 (six years into his career & most of his glory behind him) was because the organisers moved the event to earlier in December. Duhh!!
I believe that the International Tennis Federation saw that the Lipton Championships (in Miami- now known as the Ericsson Open), German Open, Spanish Open & Japan Open were all strong contenders to take over Australia's Grand Slam status if as new venue had not been built.
And, yes: Flinders Park was much better- Melbourne Park is a dull and unimaginative name (Thanks a bunch Jeff Kennett)- on par with Canberra Stadium & Subiaco Oval.

Heres a great pic of Kooyong in all its glory. It was taken in 1960 (or 1940, it has 2 dates for some reason).

Cam

The New White City page is on Victoria section now NSW

Just when you thought you had enough of Kooyong, heres another beauty I scanned of the 1957 Davis cup match against the USA

The tie in Perth would have been played at Royal Kings Park and if your remember the Davis Cup Tie you all know what a joke of a tennis stadium that is. It is puny i cant imagine they would have had temporary stands for the other sides of the ground. The only thing going for it is that its in the number 1 tourist site in W.A Kings Park.

White City why was it called white city? just interested to know, seems rather odd for a tennis stadium.

Read my post Egan. White City was the name of a theme park on the sit4e before the Tennis Club. It was named after the White City theme park in London. As the name suggests, the carnival buildings and amenities were all painted white.

A fire destroyed much of the theme park. It was only after that they decided to put a tennis club on the site.

Your post was just too long to be bothered to read it all. Seems funny to name it after a theme park. Dans photos of the present white City look nothing like those of the original. Was it redeveloped at a later date. Or is it because they ahve eliminated standing areas.

What originals??? Those others are of Kooyong in Melbourne

Here it is!!!!...I GOT IT !!!!!....Yay!!!

The second largest attendance(some say the largest) at any Tennis match in the history of Tennis!!...and it was at White City,Sydney!!