Coordinates: 37°49′22″S 144°58′48″E / 37.82267°S 144.98005°E / -37.82267; 144.98005

Melbourne Park is a sports venue in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Since 1988, Melbourne Park has been home of the Australian Open in tennis, which is played annually in January. The venue was the home of the Melbourne Tigers basketball team, and can be adapted to host netball, ice skating, concerts, cycling as well as swimming and motorsport events. It is run by Melbourne & Olympic Parks, which also runs the adjacent Olympic Park Stadium. The Yarra Park section of the Sports and Entertainment Precinct is run separately.

Melbourne Park was built in 1988 beside the Jolimont Yards as a new venue to host the Australian Open, as Kooyong, the previous venue, had become too small. It was originally known as the National Tennis Centre at Flinders Park until 1996, when then-Premier, Jeff Kennett decided to rename it Melbourne Park, mainly to advertise the name "Melbourne" to a wide international audience. The decision was met with strong opposition, and was compared by some to renaming Stade Roland Garros (home to the French Open in Paris) "Paris Park". However, over the years, it has become accepted by the Melbourne community.

Melbourne ([ˈmelbən, -bn̩, ˈmæl-],rhotically  /ˈmɛlbərn/) is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2010, the greater geographical area had an approximate population of four million. Inhabitants of Melbourne are called Melburnians or Melbournians.

The metropolis is located on the large natural bay known as Port Phillip, with the city centre positioned at the estuary of the Yarra River (at the northernmost point of the bay). The metropolitan area then extends south from the city centre, along the eastern and western shorelines of Port Phillip, and expands into the hinterland. The city centre is situated in the municipality known as the City of Melbourne, and the metropolitan area consists of a further 30 municipalities.

Melbourne was founded in 1835 (47 years after the European settlement of Australia) by settlers from Launceston in Van Diemen's Land. It was named by governor Richard Bourke in 1837, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb—the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Melbourne was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847. In 1851, it became the capital city of the newly created colony of Victoria. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it then served as the interim seat of government of the newly created nation of Australia until 1927.

Margaret Court AO MBE (born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian tennis player and Christian minister. Best known for her sporting career, at one point she was ranked as the world's top tennis player.

In 1970, she became the first woman during the open era and the second woman in history to win the singles Grand Slam (all four majors in the same calendar year). Court won a record 24 of those titles during her career. She also won 19 women's doubles and 19 mixed doubles titles, giving her a record 62 Major titles overall. She is the only woman to win the mixed doubles Grand Slam, and she did it twice. Her all surfaces (hard, clay, grass and carpet) career match winning percentage of 91.74 (1177/106) is an all-time record.Her win-loss performance in all Grand Slam singles tournaments was 90.12% (210–23), at the French Open 90.38% (47–5), at Wimbledon 85.10% (51–9), at the US Open 89.47% (51–6), and at the Australian Open 95.31% (61–3). She also shares the Open Era record for most Grand Slam singles titles as a mother with Kim Clijsters. The International Tennis Hall of Fame states, "For sheer strength of performance and accomplishment there has never been a tennis player to match (her)". She is regarded by some to be the greatest female tennis player of all time.

Roger Federer (German pronunciation: [ˈfeːdəʁɐ]) (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP No. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks from 2 February 2004 to 18 August 2008. Federer has occupied the #1 ranking for 285 overall weeks, one week short of the record 286 weeks held by Pete Sampras. As of 28 May 2012, he is ranked World No. 3. Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass, and hard courts). He is the only male player in tennis history to have reached the title match of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times and also the final at each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 Tournaments. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 23 career Grand Slam tournament finals, including a men's record ten in a row, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, the lone exception being the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semifinals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2012 Australian Open, he reached a record 31st consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. During the course of his run at the 2012 French Open in Roland Garros, Federer eclipsed Jimmy Connors long standing record of 233 match wins in Grand Slam tournaments when he defeated Adrian Ungur in a second round match.

Park Jaebeom (Hangul: 박재범; Hanja: 朴載範, born April 25, 1987), also known as Jay Park, is a Korean-American recording artist, dancer, rapper, music producer, b-boy, songwriter, composer and actor. He was the former leader of the South Korean boy band 2PM, and is a member of the Seattle-based b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM).

Born in Seattle, Washington, Park showed great interest in hip hop music and breakdancing at a young age. Park was raised in Edmonds, Washington where he attended Edmonds Woodway High School. In 2004, he auditioned in Seattle, Washington, for Korea-based JYP Entertainment (JYPE), which brought him to Korea in January 2005, to receive further training in dancing, rapping, singing, and the Korean language.

Park first appeared through Mnet's Hot Blood Men, a documentary-style reality program that showed the future members of idol groups 2AM and 2PM in training. Park, finishing with the most fan votes, was given the position of 2PM's leader. On September 4, 2008, 2PM debuted with the song "10점 만점에 10점" ("10 Points Out Of 10") on music program M! Countdown after the release of their first mini-album, Hottest Time of the Day, a few days prior.