Australian Open loses another major sponsor

Airline company Qantas announced late last week that it will be ending its 21-year sponsorship agreement with the Australian Open. A spokesman for the company confirmed this development but did not exactly say if it was the global economic crisis that caused this.

This is certainly a huge financial blow for Tennis Australia. For the past few months, major sponsors such as MasterCard, Garnier and GE Money, have also dropped its sponsorship agreement with the Australian Open.

Remaining major sponsors of the tournament include carmaker Kia Motors, luxury watchmaker Rolex and apparel company Lacoste.