Brisbane

Brisbane (ⁱ/ˈbrɪzbən/) is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of 2.3 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3.4 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range, sprawling across several of Australia's most populous local government areas (LGAs), most centrally the City of Brisbane, which is by far the most populous LGA in the nation. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite.

One of the oldest cities in Australia, Brisbane was founded upon the ancient homelands of the Indigenous Turrbal and Jagera peoples. Named after the Brisbane River on which it is located – which in turn was named after Scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825 – the area was chosen as a place for secondary offenders from the Sydney Colony. A penal settlement was founded in 1824 at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of the central business district, but was soon abandoned and moved to North Quay in 1825, opening to free settlement in 1842. The city was marred by Aboriginal conflict between 1843-1855, and development was partly set back by the Great Fire of Brisbane, and the Great Brisbane Flood. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859. During World War II, Brisbane played a central role in the Allied campaign and served as the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur.

Brisbane International

Coordinates: 27°31′30.12″S 153°0′26.06″E / 27.5250333°S 153.0072389°E / -27.5250333; 153.0072389

The Brisbane International is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Brisbane, Queensland. It is part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and of the WTA Premier tournaments of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. It is held annually in January at the Queensland Tennis Centre just before the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Australian Open as part of the Australian Open Series. It is owned by Tennis Australia.

History

The origins of the Brisbane International trace back to the early 1970s, when the Grand Prix tennis circuit, formed in 1970, and which ran concurrently with other tours as the World Championship Tennis circuit, decided to feature on its calendar an event in Queensland to develop a South West Pacific season around the Australian Open - then taking place in Brisbane - alongside other Oceanian events of Sydney, New South Wales; Hobart, Tasmania; and Auckland, New Zealand. The Adelaide-based South Australian Tennis Championships, running as an amateur, then as a State championship, since 1889, were brought to the professional circuit in 1972. The first professional edition of the men's event, played, like the Australian Open, on outdoor grass courts, saw the victory of Soviet Alex Metreveli over Kim Warwick, while the women's event, still not featured in either the Commercial Union Grand Prix circuit or the Virginia Slims circuit, saw Australian Evonne Goolagong win the title.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer (German: [ˈfeːdərər] born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). His accomplishments in professional tennis cause him to be popularly regarded as the greatest tennis player of all time. Federer turned professional in 1998 and has been continuously ranked in the top 10 since October 2002.

Federer holds several records of the Open Era: holding the world No. 1 position for 302 weeks (including 237 consecutive weeks); winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles; reaching each Grand Slam final at least five times (an all-time record); and reaching the Wimbledon final ten times. He is among the seven men (and among the four in Open Era) to capture a career Grand Slam. Federer shares an Open Era record for most titles at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras (7) and at the US Open with Jimmy Connors and Sampras (5).

Federer has reached 27 men's singles Grand Slam finals, including 10 in a row from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships to the 2007 US Open, both statistics being records. He also appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon through to the 2010 Australian Open. He reached the semifinals at 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2016 Australian Open, he played in a record 65th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, reached a record 47th Grand Slam quarterfinal and a record 39th Grand Slam semifinal. Earlier at the 2015 US Open, he reached a record 27th Grand Slam final. Also earlier at the 2013 French Open, Federer reached a record 36th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Federer has won the most matches in Grand Slams (302) and is the first to record 65+ wins at each Grand Slam tournament.