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Australia Australian Open

2005 Five Dollar

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The Australian Open Five Dollar coin was released to celebrate 100 years of the championship from 1905 to 2005. The reverse was designed by Horst Hahne and shows his impression of a tennis player in action serving the ball. In the background there is a tennis arena along with the legend 1905 AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2005. The obverse features an Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II, right-facing with tiara and earrings. It also contains the legend ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2005 5 DOLLARS. The coin comes on a postcard with two stamps, one is the Warehousemens Cricket Ground in Albert Park, Melbourne and the other is of the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. The back of the postcard contains a brief history of the tournament.

One of the Worlds biggest sporting events, the Australian Open celebrates its centenary in 2005. The first tournament, known as the Australasian Tennis Championships, was played at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground in Albert Park, Melbourne. The first Australian Open men's singles event was won by Alfred Dunlop of Australia beating Reginald Fraser of Australia in straight sets in 1905. The competition became the Australian Open in 1969 and moved to the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park in January 1988. Rod Laver was one of Australia's greatest tennis stars. He was born on 9th August 1938 in Rockhampton, Queensland and won the Australian Open in 1960, 1962 and 1969. He was also Wimbledon Champion four times and was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981 (Australian Open, 2013) . Other Hall of Fame member's include Evonne Goolagong, Daphne Jessie Akhurst, Nancye (Wynne) Bolton, John Bromwich, Sir Norman Brookes, Pat Cash, Ashley Cooper, Margaret (Smith) Court, Jack Crawford, Mark Edmondson, Roy Emerson, Lew Hoad, Thelma (Coyne) Long, Ken McGregor, John Newcombe, Gerald Patterson, Patrick Rafter, Mervyn Rose, Ken Rosewall, Frank Sedgman, Fred Stolle, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.