The 2011 Australian Open was the 99th edition of the Australian Open, held at Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Victoria.
The tournament was an event run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Tennis Australia, that was part of the 2011 ATP World Tour and the 2011 WTA Tour calendars, under the Grand Slam category.
The tournament consisted of men's and women's singles and doubles draws as well as a mixed doubles event. There was also singles and doubles events for boys and girls, part of the Grade A category of tournaments of the junior tour. There were also events for wheelchair tennis players, they competed in two categories: Paraplegic players where men and women play in separate competitions and a category for Quadriplegics, shortened to Quads and is a mixed event. These competitions are part of the NEC tour, under the Grand Slam category. The tournament was played on Plexicushion Prestige AO hard courts, which were rated a medium-fast pace by the ITF. The tournament took place over twenty-five courts, including three showcourts: the Hisense Arena, the Margaret Court Arena and the Rod Laver Arena (the Hisense and Rod Laver Arenas have roofs which allow play to continue indoors should the roof be needed).
The 2011 Australian Open offered record prize money to both men and women of a total of A$25 million (US$24 million), up 3.8% on the total prize money from 2010. The winners of the singles titles took home A$2.2 million (US$2.1 million) with the finalists receiving A$1.1 million (US$1 million). To put it into perspective Kim Clijsters and Rafael Nadal both took home US$1.7 million for winning the 2010 US Open. Below is the list of prize money given to each player in the main draw of the professional competitions; all prize money is in Australian dollars (A$); doubles prize money is distributed per pair.
On 16 January, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters, Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Justine Henin, Ana Ivanovic, Victoria Azarenka, Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki and Queenslanders Samantha Stosur and Pat Rafter played a charity match at Rod Laver Arena to raise money for the flood efforts. Tickets to the event cost twenty dollars, and other events - such as an auction of shirts signed by the players - also took place. Queensland Energy Resources pledged to match the total amount of money raised. The event raised $1.8 million.