Australian Open organizers have no intention of moving the tennis major from Melbourne despite overtures from other cities in the Asia-Pacific wanting to bid for the tournament.
Melbourne Park, adjacent to Melbourne's downtown area, has a contract to host the tournament until 2016, although backers of a new facility in Sydney have publicly stated they'll try to poach the event from the southern city.
Other reports suggest that Shanghai, China, among other Asian cities, wants to stage host one of tennis' four Grand Slam events.
"We've got a business case study going on right now as to what the future needs to deliver for us _ we are very happy with the way in which things are operating," in Melbourne, Tennis Australia CEO Steve Wood said at the launch Tuesday of the new Brisbane International, a men's and women's tournament that will kick off the Australian Open Series on Jan. 4. "It's a good news future for us in Melbourne.
"Any city in the world would love to have a Grand Slam facility and run the event ... Grand Slams have that sort of interest.
"Australia is really behind the event as a Grand Slam. It's a good event in Melbourne."
The other three Grand Slam tournaments have long been entrenched at Wimbledon, in London's leafy southwest, Paris and New York.
Melbourne Park has hosted the Australian Open since 1988 when the tournament switched to a hardcourt event and moved across town from the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, where it had been held since 1972.
The Australian championship, or Australasian Championship as it began in 1905, has been held predominantly in Melbourne but also in Australia's other mainland state capitals of Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and twice in New Zealand.
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