The Australian Open tennis tournament is partnering with tech gaming company, Livewire, for the AO Summer Smash featuring Fortnite, a global competitive Fortnite event which will run during the tournament’s final week in January 2024.

The AO Summer Smash is a core part of the Australian Open’s innovation strategy, which aims to diversify the event’s audience and reach. 2024 will be the sixth consecutive year the AO has produced Fortnite tournaments.

“The AO Summer Smash featuring Fortnite is a huge part of our organisation’s innovation strategy, allowing us to connect with new fans, and helping us to promote the event in the digital and gaming sphere, beyond the traditional sporting realm,” said Machar Reid, Tennis Australia’s Head of Innovation. “We are really excited to be partnering with Livewire, who have extensive experience connecting brands with the gaming and tech industry, which will help to amplify our event further and support our overall strategy.”

Developed by Epic Games, Fortnite is a popular, online global platform with more than 500m registered accounts worldwide. In Fortnite, players can create their own experiences, play action-packed Zero Build, or squad up in the iconic player vs. player Battle Royale. Australia is a key country for Fortnite and is home to a number of the top ranked players and creators.