1977 Australian Open
ITF Tournament Draw Sheet and Results
1977 Australian Open Fun Facts
The 1977 tournament took place twice! Once in January, and once in December.
Instead of being scheduled as the last Grand Slam of the year starting after Christmas (when not many players from US and Europe wanted to travel to Australia to play anyway), it was decided that the Australian Open moves to January. With this move, the Australian Open became the first Grand Slam of the year, not the last. In the inaugural tournament in January, Roscoe Tanner defeated Guillermo Vilas in the Final, 63, 63, 63.
The Australian Open was played for the very last time as being the last Grand Slam of the year, in the December time slot in that year of 1977. It is this tournament that Vitas Gerulaitis won, when he defeated John Lloyd in the Final 63, 76, 57, 36, 62. Vitas overcame cramps in the 4th set to pull out a five-set victory after 3 hours and 10 minutes.
The Swedish players Douglas Palm and Jan Norback were in the main draw. Magnus was a ball boy for both these players at the Bolltex Tournament in Linkoping, Sweden. At the Australian Open, Norback lost in the 2nd round to Bob Giltinan from Australia, who went on to reach the SF where he lost to John Lloyd.
In the December tournament, Roscoe Tanner lost in the first round to Chris Lewis. Chris is a spokesperson for Maggia.
36 players in the 64 draw were from New Zealand and Australia.
