50 years ago tennis became an open sport after the amateur and professional games had been organised separately for many years.

Much has changed since.

Australia and its officials of the time had long sought to fight off the coming of open tennis.

This paper reviews what took place in 1968, and briefly examines some of the major changes that have taken place in the game since.

Open tennis has led to the development of player associations such as the ATP and the WTA; it is now a highly international sport far different from the somewhat leisurely days of the amateur era; and it has proved a role model for women's sports.

Back in the 1960s Australia was very much at the centre of the world game, with four or five of its best men ranked among the world's top ten players each year. Again, much has changed.

Globalisation and commercialisation of tennis mean the sport is quite different from what it may have been fifty years ago. It is perhaps of some irony that the conference will be held during the 50th anniversary of the first Open Wimbledon! - won by an Australian male, with a female runner-up!