2009 in Australia - Sport

Sport

• 7 January – Australia defeats South Africa by 103 runs in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
• 11 January – Australia defeats South Africa by 52 runs in the first Twenty20 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
• 25 January – Melbourne Victory wins the premiership of the A-League 2008–09 season, beating Adelaide United on goals scored, after the two teams were tied on points and goal difference.
• 31 January – Serena Williams wins the women's singles title at the 2009 Australian Open, defeating Dinara Safina (6–0, 6–3).
• 2 February – Rafael Nadal wins the men's singles title at the 2009 Australian Open, defeating Roger Federer in five sets (7–5, 3–6, 7–6(3), 3–6, 6–2).
• 3 February – Cricketers Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke are named joint winners of the Allan Border Medal.
• 28 February – Melbourne Victory wins the championship of the A-League 2008–09 season, defeating Adelaide United 1–0 in the Grand Final at Telstra Dome.
• 1 March – Noriyuki Haga and Ben Spies win the two races of the Australian Superbike Grand Prix held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
• 14 March – Hazem El Masri of the Bulldogs becomes the highest point scorer in the NRL, surpassing Andrew Johns.
• 29 March – British driver Jenson Button wins from pole position at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.
• 7 May – Racing Victoria suspends jumps racing in Victoria following the deaths of three horses over two days at a racing carnival in Warrnambool.
• 7 June – The Socceroos draw (0–0) against Qatar in an away match at Doha, qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
• 30 June – Hazem El Masri announces his retirement from the NRL, taking effect at the end of the 2009 season.
• 11 July – Fremantle kick only 1.7 (13) against Adelaide at Football Park. This constitutes:

1. the first score of fewer than three goals since 1991
2. the lowest AFL/VFL score since Richmond kicked 0.8 (8) against St. Kilda in 1961

• 12 July – Mark Webber wins his first Formula One Grand Prix at the 2009 German Grand Prix in his eighth year in Formula One. He was the first Australian to win a Grand Prix since 1981. Webber also set a new record for most Formula One race starts prior to his first win, at 130.
• 31 July – Ricky Ponting became the highest Australian aggregate run-scorer in Test cricket, surpassing Allan Border's total of 11,174 during the third Test of the 2009 Ashes at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.
• 23 August – The Australian cricket team loses The Ashes cricket series, 2 Tests to 1 in England. Australia drop from the first-ranked Test team to behind South Africa, Sri Lanka and India.
• 6 September – Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen and his co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen driving a Ford Focus win Rally Australia, the first to be held at its new venue on the noerthern coast of New South Wales.
• 21 September – Gary Ablett, Jr. of the Geelong Football Club wins the 2009 Brownlow Medal.
• 26 September – Geelong wins the 2009 AFL Grand Final, beating St Kilda 12.8 (80) to 9.14 (68).
• 4 October – The Melbourne Storm become premiers of the National Rugby League season 2009, defeating the Parramatta Eels 23-16 at ANZ Stadium, although they would be subsequently stripped of this award, leaving the position of premiership winners vacant.
• 11 October – Garth Tander and Will Davison win the 2009 Bathurst 1000 for the Holden Racing Team, finishing just 0.8 seconds ahead of Brad Jones Racing pairing of Jason Richards and Cameron McConville. It was Tander's second win at the Bathurst 1000, Davison's first and HRT's sixth.
• 24 October – So You Think ridden by Glen Boss wins the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.
• 3 November – Shocking wins the 2009 Melbourne Cup.
• 21 December – Television ratings show that rugby league was the most watched sport on Australian television in 2009.
• 28 December – Alfa Romeo II takes line honours in the 2009 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.