Online Reporter
ROGER Federer will return to the scene of some of his greatest triumphs in January when he headlines a “Battle of the World No 1s” to officially launch the 2026 Australian Open tennis tournament, organisers said yesterday.
The Swiss great will be back on Rod Laver Arena for the first time since he retired in 2022 as the Grand Slam at Melbourne Park introduces an inaugural “opening ceremony”.
Held on the evening before the tournament starts on January 18, it will include a tribute to Federer, who won the Norman Brookes trophy six times among his 20 major titles.
He will also join four-time Australian Open winner Andre Agassi and Australians Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt for a star-studded match.
“It feels like a lifetime ago that I coined the phrase the ‘Happy Slam’ for the Australian Open, and it still makes me smile when I think about all the moments I’ve had there,” Federer said.
“I’ve experienced so many emotions on Rod Laver Arena – the joy of lifting ‘Norman’ six times, the honour of playing in front of Rod Laver himself.
“The challenge of competing against my biggest rivals, and always the overwhelming love and support of the Australian fans.
“Coming back to win the AO in 2017 is one of my most treasured Grand Slam memories and backing it up to win in 2018 was another dream come true in Melbourne.”
Federer also won the tournament in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010.
Meanwhile, that great attention to detail is the hallmark of a great tennis tournament will come as no surprise to silversmith Paul Smith, who is responsible for crafting the trophy taken home from the Australian Open by the women’s singles champion.
While the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup that has been awarded to the winner of the women’s singles since 1934 stays in Australia, Sydney-based smithery WJ Sanders produces an exact replica that leaves Melbourne with the champion.
“It’s not technically an easy trophy to make,” Smith told Reuters.
“It’s quite simple in its design, which means you’ve got to be quite accurate.
“Its simple silhouette means it’s a very elegant trophy. To me, it’s kind of the epitome of a trophy, isn’t it?”
Smith is part of a team of 10 hard at work in the back streets of Sydney, crafting 150 trophies for the 2026 Australian Open, which also includes an exact replica of the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup for the men’s champion at Melbourne Park.
For General Manager Darren May and his team, work on the trophies began before the 2025 edition of the Grand Slam and will conclude when the fruits of their labours are handed out to title winners on Rod Laver Arena early next year.
“When we get to that final, men’s and women’s and doubles final, and they hold that trophy up, we all remember the time it took us to create those trophies and the craftsmanship that went into it,” May told Reuters.
The “major” trophies – the men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles – are all handmade from roughly 18 kg of silver and have a value of at least A$860 000 (US$573 534).
The skill set required to make these trophies by hand is dying out and it is officially considered an “endangered craft” on Britain’s Heritage Crafts Red List.
May, though, would not craft the trophies any other way.
“Sure, you can mass produce, but mass production, it takes the life out of the object,” he said.
“That human hand, cannot be reproduced by a machine.”
Jannik Sinner held aloft the Norman Brookes trophy earlier this year, while Madison Keys was the recipient of the Daphne Akhurst.
They will both be back in Melbourne from January 18 to February 1 looking to add another Australian Open title, and another piece of WJ Sanders craftsmanship, to their trophy cabinets. – AFP Sport/Reuters
