Hopman Cup | Perth 2015

Serena Williams, the 18-time singles Grand slam champion believes she can play level tennis against top ranked players in 2015 season, where she will begin season at the Hopman Cup tournament 2015 in January. 

Serena Williams, who will skip from the WTA Brisbane International, she will join along with Wimbledon doubles champion Jack Sock in the United States team to compete in a star-studded Hopman Cup ahead of the Australian Open 2015.

Serena Williams is considered as hot favorite to clinch the 2015 Australian Open, as she finishes this season with aggressive mode by winning WTA Championship Finals in Singapore. 

Currently, Serena is playing in the inaugural International Tennis Premier League and she wants to well prepare for the upcoming season begins next month. Serena hopes it will be the best preparation for the season’s opening Grand slam tournament Australian Open.

Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is likely to pair-up with Alize Cornet in a French team playing in Group B with Australia, Great Britain and Poland. Great Britain top ranked Andy Murray will play for Britain alongside Heather Watson. 

Canadian beauty Eugenie Bouchard, Australian star Nick Kyrgios and world No.6 Agnieszka Radwanska also confirmed to play in the tournament begins from January 4 to 10 on outdoor hard courts.


Date: 4–10 January 2015 

Venue: Perth Arena (indoor) 

Surface: Plexicushion 

Capacity: 12,489 (when configured for tennis. Perth Arena has a maximum capacity of 15,500)

View the Official Hopman Cup Website

- See more at: http://ozopentennis.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/hopman-cup-perth-2015.html#sthash.0li6Ctvy.dpuf

5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) Australia Show Tour

Hot on the heels of selling out two shows at London's iconic Wembley Arena, the chart-topping Sydney boys are heading out on the road to play their first-ever headline Australian arena shows, touring in support of their recently released self-titled #1 smash hit debut album - not bad for four teenagers from the Western suburbs of Sydney. 

5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) – Luke, Calum, Michael and Ashton, started the month with an incredible five songs in the top 50 of the ARIA single chart: double platinum debut and worldwide iTunes #1 She Looks So Perfect, UK #2 Don't Stop, Amnesia, Kiss Me Kiss Me and Everything I Didn't Say. The lyric video for their upcoming single, Amnesia, has already had more than 5.7 million views.

5SOS are a worldwide success with more than 92 million views on YouTube, more than five million fans on Facebook, a combined 15-million-plus Twitter followers and more than 1.75 million followers on Instagram.

Australia Tour Dates:

Allphones Arena, Sydney NSW  Sat 20 Jun
Brisbane Entertainment Centre, QLD  Tue 23 Jun
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne VIC  Thu 25 Jun
Adelaide Entertainment Centre, SA  Sat 27 Jun
Perth Arena, WA   Mon 29 Jun

Ideal Show Accommodation | Metro Hotels

About 5SOS (5 Seconds of Summer)

Formed in Sydney in 2011, the band consists of Luke Hemmings (lead vocals, guitar), Michael Clifford (guitar, vocals), Calum Hood (bass guitar, vocals) and Ashton Irwin (drums, vocals). The group were originally YouTube celebrities, posting videos of themselves covering songs from various artists in 2011. 

From there, they gained a small following in 2012 after posting a series of cover versions of popular songs ontoYouTube, then rose to international fame when One Direction invited them on their Take Me Home Tour.

Christmas events light up Perth's social calendar

Santa will be the guest of honour at the annual Christmas pageant on Saturday night. Photo: Channel Seven

By Candice Barnes

It's only three weeks until the big day, but Santa is in Perth for a whirlwind trip this weekend.
He'll be joined by a few colourful friends during a Christmas carnival in Forrest Place on Sunday, which will also feature mini golf, a bouncy castle and petting zoo.

Santa was also the guest of honour at the Christmas pageant on Saturday night, which will start at 7.30pm.

The parade will begin at the corner of Saint Georges Terrace and William Street, work its way in an easterly direction through the city before turning toward the river at Plain Street in East Perth.
The finish point is at the corner of Plain Street and Terrace Road, near Langley Park.

More than 2,000 performers will entertain the crowds alongside dancers, marching bands and floats.

For those who can't make it into town, the pageant will be televised on Sunday night and again on Christmas Day.

From 12 noon on Sunday, Father Christmas is tipped to make a special appearance at the Northbridge Piazza and may stick around to catch a 4.00pm screening of Will Ferrell film Elf.

Thousands of people are expected to watch this year's Christmas pageant in the Perth CBD. Photo: Channel Seven

Source: http://www.watoday.com.au/entertainment/about-town/christmas-events-light-up-perths-social-calendar-20141206-121bsq.html

Summer Sporting Extravaganza to Boost Australian Economy

In Australia, summer is all about sport. This season the addition of two major international events to the calendar is a big bonus, not just for sports lovers but for the economy as well.

Australians who don't enjoy sport turn off the television and head for the beach at this time of year.

For everyone else, there's a smorgasbord of Test and one-day cricket, PGA golf, an internationally famous yacht race, a grand slam tennis event, cycling and Formula One races.

The country is set to enjoy an unprecedented quantity of world sport worth an estimated A$320m ($267m; £172m) to the economy thanks to the addition of two major events.

The Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup - being held across five cities in January - and the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup, which will be played in Australia and New Zealand in February and March, eclipse other events in size and dollar value.

The Asian Cup is the biggest sporting event in Asia and the cricket World Cup is the third biggest sporting event in the world after the summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.

Australia's summer of sport

• December 9 - January 10: Four cricket Test matches, Australia v India.
• December 11-14: Australian PGA golf Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast.
• December 26-30: Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
• January 9 - January 31, 2015: Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup.
• January 16 - February 1: Cricket one-day international tri series, Australia, India and England.
• January 17-25: Tour Down Under cycling classic, Adelaide and South Australia.
• January 19 - February 1: Australian Open grand slam tennis, Melbourne.
• February 14 - March 29: ICC World Cup.
• March 12-15: Australian Grand Prix Formula One, Melbourne.

Every year, between 1 December and 1 April, there are five million tickets on sale for sport and entertainment events across New South Wales, according to state government body Destination NSW. For the same period in 2014-2015, there are eight million tickets on sale.

"That's what happens when you add an Asian Cup and a World Cup to the calendar," says Asian Cup chief executive officer Michael Brown. "There's going to be a lot more people spending a lot more dollars."

Test Cricket

Australia's golden summer begins with the first of four Test cricket matches between Australia and India on 9 December. The fixtures were rescheduled to start later in the month because of the sudden death in late November of 25-year old Australian Test player Phillip Hughes.

Golf

The first Test now clashes with the Australian PGA golf event, while the Sydney to Hobart yacht race - which organisers claim is the largest spectator sporting event in the world - competes with the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

An estimated one million spectators will watch the start of the yacht race - about 300,000 of them from the water and another 700,000 lining Sydney's harbour and coastline, says chief executive officer of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Mark Woolf.

Economic Ipmact

The economic impact, however, is incalculable, says Mr Woolf, because it is a free spectator event.

"The metrics that come out of this race are enormous," he says. "It's not a stadium event. We don't have a captive audience. But there are tentacles everywhere.

"There's the investment of transporting and accommodating 118 boats and crew for the start. The crews bring their friends and families. Then there's provisioning and fuelling and self-catering for spectator picnics.

"Even the NSW town of Eden gets an economic lift. It's the last safe harbour for boats to refuel and restock before crossing Bass Strait. Once they reach Hobart the boats and crews have to get back to Sydney.

"Then there's the impact of those TV pictures of a perfect Sydney harbour beaming into Europe and America in the middle of winter on their Christmas night. It's hard to quantify the publicity and future tourism impact."

Asia Cup Soccer

As the Test cricket ends the Asian Cup kicks off on 9 January, with 16 teams playing 32 matches in Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

According to Mr Brown, PricewaterhouseCoopers has said the event will pump A$225m into the economy. Asian Cup organisers target ticket sales of 500,000, with 50,000 international visitors expected to attend.

Three of Australia's top ten trading partners - China, Japan and South Korea - have qualified, which means hosting the Asia Cup is a unique tourism, trade and investment opportunity for the country and the region, he says.

"The Asian Cup is Asia's biggest sporting event and football is the biggest team sport and the most popular sport in Asia," Mr Brown says. "In Asia, football outstrips cricket as a sport."

Tourism Tsunami

But the Asian Cup will also have to compete for spectators and TV audiences with the Tour Down Under cycling classic in South Australia and the Australian Open grand slam tennis tournament in Melbourne.

ICC World Cup Cricket

Then, the biggest sporting event of the summer begins on 14 February. More than one million people are expected to attend 49 one-day matches featuring 14 teams playing in the ICC World Cup at venues in Australia and New Zealand.

ICC World Cup chief executive officer John Harnden says 500,000 tickets have already been sold and tens of thousands of international spectators are expected to attend, creating a tourism tsunami between the two countries.

"There will be a lot of travel between Australia and New Zealand, and then India, the UK and the US are the three primary points of origin (for spectators)," says Mr Harnden.

"It is a great opportunity to showcase ourselves to the world and benefit from that great word of mouth from all those tens of thousands of tourists saying what a great time they had. If the Australian and New Zealand teams do well, that will be an even bigger bonus."

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One Direction On the Road Again Australian tour 2015

Much to the excitement of teenage girls, the world's biggest boy band One Direction have announced they are heading back to Australia next year as part of their On the Road Again tour.

It's just seven months since Liam, Niall, Harry, Zayn and Louis toured Australia, but they are now lining up to play shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth next year. The band sold all 190,000 tickets for 18 shows across Australia and New Zealand for the Take Me Home at the end of last year.

"Our Australian fans have been there for us since day one, and we always have such a great time there," Liam Payne said.

"We'll see you all in February next year!"

The band are currently travelling with their mammoth Where We Are Tour which has just visited South America and will hit Europe and the US this year. Sydney boy band 5 Seconds of Summer are supporting.

Since the band were put together by Simon Cowell in 2010, they have been an unstoppable force around the globe, amassing a $US100 million fortune along the way, according to estimates.

Get your tickets from the official Ticket master website: http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/One-Direction-tickets/artist/1645840

On the Road Again 2015 Australian tour dates:
February 7:   Sydney, Allianz Stadium
February 11: Brisbane, Suncorp Stadium
February 14: Melbourne, Etihad Stadium
February 17: Adelaide, AAMI Stadium
February 20: Perth, Patersons Stadium

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/one-direction-heading-back-to-australia-for-2015-tour-20140519-zrgor.html



Need accommodation close to One Direction tour stadiums? 
Metro Hotels have hotels and serviced apartments in most major cities throughout Australia:


Sydney Hotels & Apartments (NSW):

• Metro Hotel Sydney Central
• Metro Hotel on Pitt
• Metro Apartments on Darling Harbour
• Aspire Hotel Sydney

Brisbane Hotels (QLD):

• Metro Hotel Tower Mill

Melbourne Apartments (VIC):

• Metro Apartments on Bank Place

Western Australia:

• Metro Hotel Perth

Tourism Set to Cash In On Big Summer For International Sport

An unprecedented summer of international sport is set to boost Canberra's tourist numbers after a major decline in business stays and spending in the past year.

With seven Asian Cup football games including a quarter final, three cricket World Cup games and an extra one day International in November, Canberra's tourism boss expected locals to be joined by a mass of regional and international visitors for the sporting feast.

VisitCanberra director Ian Hill said it would be the strongest summer of sport the city had enjoyed. 

"Two absolutely world class events, and I certainly know tickets for those cricket World Cup games have been selling really well."

The National Visitor Survey released last month showed visitor nights were down 790,000 in the domestic business sector for the year to June, a drop of 37.5 per cent. Overall domestic nights were down 16.4 per cent and expenditure down 11.4 per cent, or $14 million. 

International visitor nights also fell 12 per cent, or 570,000 nights, in the same period, with expenditure down 6 per cent.

Mr Hill said the tourism authority was working closely with hoteliers and organisations elsewhere to help them package and promote events.  

"One of those [Asian Cup] games is a China [vs] Korea game; China don't play in Sydney and there's a big group of Chinese background people who live in Sydney, so we're working with some of the multicultural media in Sydney," he said. 

The tourism chief said the key to maximising the windfall for Canberra was ensuring visitors saw other attractions  during their stay, and a rejuvenated cultural and hotel scene would help.

"Places like Braddon are important, Lonsdale Street Roasters is an important place, New Acton, and with new hotels like Hotel Hotel, Peppers has just rebranded, we've seen QT do a fit out at Rydges, the Kurrajong is about to reopen after being refitted – a great location for visitors in the Parliamentary Triangle. I think visitors are seeing a new side of Canberra," Mr Hill said. 

Mr Hill said stories on last week's OECD finding that Canberra was the world's best city to live in,  trumpeted in the New York Times and elsewhere, helped spread the word. 

The Australian Hotels Association ACT recently told ABC TV that occupancy rates were at about 65 per cent, down from the same time last year, but investment was strong, with another 500-600 hotel rooms available by mid-next year. 

Mariah Carey "The Elusive Chanteuse” Tour

On the heels of the most critically acclaimed album of her career, ‘Me. I am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse,’ the best-selling female artist of all time, MARIAH CAREY, has confirmed Australian dates, extending her previously announced “The Elusive Chanteuse Show” world tour.

Live Nation are thrilled to announce that Nathaniel will be the support act on the Australian leg of Mariah Carey’s “The Elusive Chanteuse Show” world tour.

Mariah Carey will tour Australia in just over a month.

The five-time Grammy Award-winning songstress has extended her The Elusive Chanteuse Show world tour to include a national tour Down Under - her first in more than 15 years.

Fans in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney will have a chance to see Carey perform live, while she'll also do winery shows at A Day on the Green in the Yarra Valley and Mount Cotton, near Brisbane.

Carey’s set list will be an exciting mix of her biggest hits, fan-favourite album cuts, never-before-performed selections from her #1 R&B Album “Me. I am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse” and many more surprises! 

“I want to experience the spontaneity and emotion that I put into this album on stage with my fans,” says Carey. “I can’t stop writing songs so don’t be surprised if you hear a brand new song that I just wrote the night before the show in your city!”

Carey last visited Australia for three east coast shows in January 2013.

But the highest-selling female artist of all time hasn't performed a national tour since her Butterfly world tour in 1998.

Last year, the 44-year-old was joined in Australia by her toddler twins Monroe and Moroccan and her actor and comedian husband Nick Cannon.

The couple, who married in 2008, recently split.

Carey will kick off her world tour in Japan on October 4. No further dates have been announced after the Australian leg.

"I want to experience the spontaneity and emotion that I put into this album on stage with my fans," Carey said of the tour in a statement released on Thursday.

"I can't stop writing songs so don't be surprised if you hear a brand new song that I just wrote the night before the show in your city."

Carey's latest album Me. I Am Mariah ... The Elusive Chanteuse has been a critical success, but sales since its release in May have been unspectacular.

Tickets for all shows go on sale on September 26 at 9am (AEST).

MARIAH CAREY AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES:

November 2 - Sandalford Estate, Perth

November 5 - Entertainment Centre, Adelaide

November 7 - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

November 8 - Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley (A Day on the Green)

November 10 - Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney

November 16 - Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton, Brisbane (A Day on the Green)

Mariah Carey is a true music icon and the best-selling female artist of all time, with more than 220 million albums sold to date and 18 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles (17 self-penned), including 'Fantasy', 'Always Be My Baby', 'Hero', 'Touch My Body', 'One Sweet Day', and 'We Belong Together' - more than any solo artist in history.

With her distinct five-octave vocal range, prolific songwriting, and producing talent, Mariah has redefined the modern pop performance. As a singer/songwriter/producer, she has been recognized with multiple Grammy Awards, 21 American Music Awards, Billboard's “Artist of the Decade” Award, the World Music Award for “World's Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium,” and BMI's “Icon Award” for her outstanding achievements in songwriting, to name a

Mariah Carey's ongoing impact transcends the music industry to leave an indelible imprint upon the world at large. She has made substantial marks in film with critically acclaimed roles in Precious (2009) and also in Lee Daniel’s The Butler (2013).

A Congressional Award recipient, Mariah has generously donated her time and energy to a range of philanthropic causes near to her heart including Save the Music, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, World Hunger Relief, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, among many others.

A tremendous supporter of children’s charities, both domestic and international, Mariah founded Camp Mariah in partnership with the Fresh Air Fund, a retreat for inner city children to explore career development.

Prices:

• Diamond - $299.90
• Platinum - $250.00
• Gold - $199.90
• Silver - $159.90
• Bronze - $99.90

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