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Australia Australian Open Men's Champion

2012 Five Dollar

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The 100th running of the Australian Open from Melbourne, Australia produced a tremendous Australian Open Men's Champion. Considering this to be one of the most significant events of the world sporting calendar, the event has become well known for putting on a great spectacle. This year not only was the final a nail biting finale but it also waltzed into the Guinness Book of Records with a six hour marathon match. The Royal Australian Mint struck this commemorative five dollar in recognition of the importance of the tournament.

The reverse was designed in house and shows an outline of a tennis player about to serve. The script reads "100th men's champion" along with the legend "FIVE DOLLARS". The obverse has the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II wearing her crown and facing right. It includes the legend "ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2012".

The 2012 Men's Australian Open event was hotly contested. 2011's winner Novak Djokovic of Serbia played in the final against Rafael Nadal from Spain. The match was so close that is broke the record for being the longest final in tennis history at 5 hours and 53 minutes. The previous record was set four years earlier at the Wimbledon Grand Slam event. The eventual victor and retaining his Australian Open title was the Serbian Novak Djokovic. After the match was over, Rafael Nadal was overheard to say "good morning" as it had lasted until gone midnight. This win for the Serb star was his third Australian Open title (Sydney Morning Herald, 2012) .

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.