Which club hosted the Australian Open immediately before its move to Melbourne Park?

The Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club hosted the Australian Open immediately before its move to Melbourne Park.

Kooyong, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, became the tournament’s regular home in 1972. It hosted the event through 1987, when the championship was still played on grass. The club had also staged earlier Australian Championships, but its sustained annual run began when Melbourne became the tournament’s permanent city.

By the 1980s, Kooyong’s capacity and facilities were no longer adequate for a rapidly expanding Grand Slam. The International Tennis Federation encouraged Australia’s tennis administrators to find a larger site, leading to the construction of the Flinders Park complex, later renamed Melbourne Park.

The final Kooyong-era tournament was the 1987 Australian Open, won by Stefan Edberg over Pat Cash. The next edition, in 1988, moved to Flinders Park and introduced hard courts. “Kooyong Stadium” is understandable shorthand, but Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club is the more precise canonical name for the host club.