Fortnite comes to the Australian Open 2019 tennis tournament

Gamers in Australia can look forward to enjoying the nation’s biggest ever esports event when a special Fortnite tournament takes place at the Australian Open. The legendary tennis competition in 2019 will include the Fortnite Summer Smash competitive gaming event for the hit battle royale title over two days on 26 and 27 January. With a massive prize pool of up to $500,000, the Fortnite gaming event will give Australia one of its biggest esports tournaments so far and is sure to help competitive gaming get an extra touch of legitimacy in the nation.

© Australian Open | Fortnite

The main gaming action of the Fortnite Summer Smash will take place at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, and it will see 500 solo gamers who successfully make their way through the online registration process aiming to succeed in one of five heats that each have two matches. From here only the top 20 gamers from each heat will end up in the six match finals that take place just before the men’s Australian Open final.

In addition to this, there will also be a fun Pro-Am duos tournament that will see over 100 celebrities taking part in the Fortnite action. Gaming fans will also get chance to see many of Australia’s leading esports stars at the event with the likes of Kathleen “Loserfruit” Belsten, Lazarbeam and MrFreshAsian already signed up to make appearances.

As the Australian Open is one of the hugely popular Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the decision to include the Fortnite Summer Smash represents a big chance for esports to break through into the mainstream. Whilst there will be plenty of traditional sports fans who will be cynical about the introduction of competitive gaming at a classic sporting event, it’s clear that this is another breakthrough moment for esports.