1999 Auckland Warriors season, Other Teams
During the 1999 season players not selected for first grade competed in the NZRL's National Provincial competition. The Warriors also sent four players a week to play for the Wynnum Manly Seagulls and Brisbane Souths.


1999 Auckland Warriors season, Awards
Jason Death won the club's Player of the Year award.


1999 Australia Day Honours
The Australia Day Honours 1999 are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1999 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane.


1999 Australia Day Honours
The Australia Day Honours are the first of the two major annual honours lists, the first announced to coincide with Australia Day (26 January), with the other being the Queen's Birthday Honours, which are announced on the second Monday in June.


1999 Australia Day Honours, Order of Australia, Medal (OAM), General Division
THE COMMUNITY OF ROEBOURNE, PARTICULARLY THROUGH THE PILBARA ABORIGINAL CHURCH. OAM S16 1999


1999 Australian Drivers' Championship
The 1999 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to drivers of Formula Holden racing cars. The winner of the championship, which was the 43rd Australian Drivers' Championship, was awarded the 1999 CAMS Gold Star. Due to a sponsorship arrangement with Holden, the championship was promoted as the "Holden Australian Drivers' Championship".


1999 Australian Drivers' Championship
The championship was won by Simon Wills driving a Reynard 94D for Birrana Racing Pty Ltd.


1999 Australian Drivers' Championship, Schedule
The championship was contested over a seven-round series, with two races per round.


1999 Australian Drivers' Championship, Points system
Championship points were awarded on a 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top ten finishers in each race.


1999 Australian Drivers' Championship, Championship results
% Contemporary Formula Holden regulations mandated the use of a 3.8 litre Holden V6 engine.


1999 Australian Drivers' Championship, Championship results
+ No points were awarded for the first race of Round 6  as the race was cancelled due to a series of accidents.


1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship
The 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship was a CAMS-sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars. It was the 30th national series for Formula Fords to be held in Australia and 7th to be contested under the Australian Formula Ford Championship name.


1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship, Calendar
The championship was contested over an eight-round series with two races per round.


1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship, Points system
Championship points were awarded on a 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis to the top ten finishers in each race.


1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship, Points system
Race 1 of Round 1 at Eastern Creek was stopped prematurely due to an incident  and only half points were awarded for that race.


1999 Australian GT Production Car Championship
The 1999 Australian GT Production Car Championship was an Australian motor racing competition open to cars complying with Group 3E Series Production Car regulations. It was the sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as an Australian title  and was the fourth Australian GT Production Car Championship.


1999 Australian GT Production Car Championship
The championship was won by Jim Richards driving a Porsche 911 RSCS.


1999 Australian GT Production Car Championship, Calendar
The championship was contested over an eight round series with two races per round.


1999 Australian GT Production Car Championship, Points system
Outright championship points were awarded on a 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis to the top ten outright finishers in each race with an additional point awarded to the driver gaining pole position for each race. Class points were awarded on the same 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale to the top ten finishers in each class in each race.


1999 Australian Grand Prix
The 1999 Australian Grand Prix (formally the LXIV Qantas Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 7 March 1999 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia. The 57-lap race was the first round of the 1999 Formula One season – the 50th World Championship season in the history of Formula One.


1999 Australian Grand Prix
Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard dominated in practice and the opening stage of the race, but retired with technical problems – the new McLaren MP4/14 proved to be very fast but not yet reliable, a trait shared by a number of Adrian Newey designed cars. Michael Schumacher also had problems during this eventful race, which gave his Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine the opportunity to take his first Grand Prix victory. He made no mistakes and beat Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher to the finish by a few seconds.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Free Practice, Friday
Heinz-Harald Frentzen was the first car on track and initially topped the list, but Mika Häkkinen took the lead halfway through the first session. After several improvements he ended the session with a time of 1 minute and 33.213 seconds, with McLaren teammate David Coulthard in second place. The Stewart team performed well; Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert ended the session in sixth and seventh position, behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Free Practice, Friday
The debutants – Marc Gené, Pedro de la Rosa and Ricardo Zonta – and the 'returnees' – Alessandro Zanardi and Luca Badoer – were at the back of the field, but the final two positions were occupied by Olivier Panis and Michael Schumacher. Both had technical problems and completed only a few laps. Damon Hill, Alexander Wurz and Badoer had small off-track moments, but were able to continue without problems.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Free Practice, Friday
Coulthard was fastest for a short while in the second session, but Häkkinen quickly reset the order with a time of 1 minute and 31.985 seconds. On his next attempt, Häkkinen spun and crashed into the wall in the last turn before the main straight, causing the first red flag of the season. The session was stopped for 15 minutes; Häkkinen was unhurt, but the McLaren was badly damaged and his practice session was over. In the final minute Coulthard beat his time by one hundredth of a second.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Free Practice, Friday
Stewart and Jordan were still looking good with Barrichello in third, ahead of Frentzen, Herbert and Hill. After the break Michael Schumacher had been the first to go out, but he could not do better than seventh, with a gap of over 1.5 seconds to the McLarens. Several drivers went off the track again including Coulthard, Frentzen, Hill, Ralf Schumacher and Zanardi. The Sauber team had somewhat more serious problems: Pedro Diniz stopped on track as a precaution when warning lights lit up, while his teammate Jean Alesi hit the wall. Zanardi and Zonta also stopped on track; Zonta's transmission broke and he ended the session last because of it, just behind de la Rosa, Gené and Badoer.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Free Practice, Saturday
The first quick time on Saturday was set by Ralf Schumacher, and Frentzen momentarily topped the list as well before Coulthard took the lead. After three improvements his best time was 1 minute and 31.140 seconds, but Häkkinen went marginally quicker just before the break. Gené and Hill spun off into the gravel, while Zonta stopped on track again with transmission problems. After the break Wurz spun into the tyre barriers and caused a red flag.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Free Practice, Saturday
Both the Sauber drivers, as well as de la Rosa and Trulli ended their session prematurely after a spin, while most drivers missed a corner once or twice, getting used to the lower grip level of the new 4-grooved front tires. Despite that, the dominance of McLaren took on breath-taking form. Häkkinen was fastest with a time of 1 minute and 30.324 seconds, six-tenths quicker than teammate Coulthard and a full 2.2 seconds faster than third man Herbert. The next second covered another 11 cars, down to Ralf Schumacher in 15th place. Hill was fourth, followed by Jacques Villeneuve, who beat Michael Schumacher and did better than his BAR teammate Zonta, who completed only three laps and ended the session last, again.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
The results of the qualifying session were basically the same as the year before: Häkkinen beat Coulthard, while Michael Schumacher lead the rest of the field. After ten minutes, Herbert was the first to go out and set a time, followed by Zanardi who was marginally quicker on his fourth consecutive fast lap. After that, Barrichello took over first place, until the McLarens came out. Häkkinen made a mistake and spoiled his first run, but then took a firm lead with a time of 1 minute and 31.063 seconds.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Coulthard was two-tenths slower and spun off into the gravel, but was able to continue. Villeneuve was third fastest for a moment but was beaten by Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, who improved his time to 1 minute and 31.781 seconds. Coulthard's next attack on Häkkinen's provisional pole time failed by one thousandth of a second. Two laps later he did it, with a time of 1 minute and 30.946 seconds, but Häkkinen countered in the final minute and took the pole position with 1 minute and 30.462 seconds, nearly half a second faster than Coulthard.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Barrichello's fourth place behind Michael Schumacher was impressive. Not so impressive were Zanardi's 15th place, Alesi's 16th and most notably Panis' 20th position. As in the earlier practice sessions, many drivers left the track momentarily; Michael Schumacher even three times. Gené ended his session in the gravel, and the yellow flags spoiled a quick run for many drivers.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
To add to Gené's problems, Häkkinen's very fast lap time at the end of the session had pushed him off the starting grid, because the 107% time was now 1 minute and 36.974 seconds, and with 1 minute 37.013 seconds the Spaniard was 0.039 seconds outside the limit. By the same reasoning, the Minardi team issued an official request that Gené be allowed to start, which was subsequently granted by the Stewarts of the Meeting.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Warm Up
In the pre-race warm up session, Coulthard and Häkkinen took turns setting the fastest time. Eventually Coulthard was quickest with 1 minute and 32.560 seconds, one-tenth ahead of Häkkinen. Panis performed better and beat his qualifying time, while other drivers were having problems. Hill went off and straight into the tyre barriers after the throttle had stuck open, and Zanardi had to switch to the spare car because of electrical problems with his race car. Ralf Schumacher got bogged down in the gravel, while Badoer, Coulthard, Diniz, Fisichella, de la Rosa, Toranosuke Takagi and Wurz all went off the track but were able to continue; Takagi only just missed the barriers. Alesi and Zonta collided when Zonta tried to pass and Alesi closed the door.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard had dominated all sessions throughout the weekend with laptimes over a second quicker than anybody else, and with both cars starting from the front row of the grid, the race was looking to be an easy win for the McLaren team. However, the first signs of trouble came before the race had even begun: while the other drivers made their way to the dummy grid, pole sitter Häkkinen was still in the pits with a problem.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
At the last minute the team decided that he would have to use the spare car, and just before the pit lane closed Häkkinen was on his way. The warm up lap started without incidents but when the last cars were lining up for the start, there was smoke coming from the Stewart cars of Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert. Both had an oil leak that had set a small fire underneath the bodywork. The start was aborted and the fires were put out.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Barrichello got the spare car and had to start from the pit lane, while Herbert was out of options and became the first retirement of the race. After some delay it was announced that there would be a new race over 57 laps, one less than the originally scheduled 58. When the new warm up lap was about to start, there was further confusion at McLaren when Häkkinen's car was started while it was still in gear.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Michael Schumacher had qualified third – right behind Häkkinen on the grid – and while McLaren team-members worked frantically to get Häkkinen underway, Schumacher had to wait, and his engine stalled when the gearbox jumped out of neutral. Further down the field, Takagi's engine stalled as well. Despite the visible state of panic at McLaren, Häkkinen managed to get going before the last car had left the grid, and so he was allowed to retake his original pole position on the starting grid. Schumacher on the other hand was not so fortunate and had to start at the back of the grid along with Takagi.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Häkkinen made good use of his pole position at the second race start and took the lead, followed closely by Coulthard, Irvine, Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella. Further back Alesi immediately slowed to a stop with a broken gearbox, while Trulli made a good start from twelfth on the grid and tried to pass Hill in turn three. The cars touched; Hill spun into the gravel and retired, while Trulli continued and took seventh place from Villeneuve on the following lap. Also on lap 2, Zanardi dropped back to 21st.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
The top six remained unchanged during the opening stages of the race. While the McLarens pulled clear of the rest of the field, Michael Schumacher had started his push to the front and was back up to eleventh after only nine laps. After thirteen laps Häkkinen and Coulthard were leading third-placed Irvine by 18 seconds when Coulthard suddenly came into the pits and retired with transmission problems.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
One lap later Häkkinen lost his advantage on Irvine when the safety car was deployed; Villeneuve had lost his rear wing on the back straight and he was lucky to touch the wall only slowly after a series of high-speed spins. The race was run behind safety car for three laps while Villeneuve's car was removed. Diniz, Zonta and Badoer took the opportunity to try to save time by making a pit stop while the safety car was out.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
When the race was restarted on lap 18, Häkkinen seemed to be in trouble again when his car did not accelerate properly, bunching up the cars behind him. Several drivers swerved around the slow McLaren, including Barrichello who was later given a stop-and-go penalty because he passed Michael Schumacher before the start/finish line. After the race the Brazilian claimed that he passed Schumacher accidentally while trying to avoid a collision. Irvine took the lead ahead of Frentzen, Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, and Michael Schumacher, while Häkkinen came into the pits after a slow lap and retired with throttle problems.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 19 Zanardi crashed and the safety car was deployed for the second time. Barrichello and Trulli made their pit stops, with Trulli even making two. The race was restarted once again on lap 25. Irvine led followed by Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher and Diniz. On lap 27 Michael Schumacher had a puncture but he made it back to the pits. The front wing of his Ferrari had been damaged by vibrations and it was replaced with a wing originally intended for Irvine's car, bearing the number 4.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 28 Diniz had to retire from 4th with a transmission problem. Barrichello was now 4th, followed by Zonta and Takagi. On the next lap Wurz had a spectacular spin when his rear suspension failed. On lap 32 Barrichello came into the pits to take his stop-and-go penalty. Zonta made his second pit stop. Badoer was 5th for a short while. On lap 34 Ralf Schumacher made a pit stop and dropped to 4th. Three laps later Irvine and Frentzen pitted at the same time but Irvine kept the lead and rejoined just in front of Fisichella.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 38 Fisichella made a pit stop and dropped to 5th behind de la Rosa. Michael Schumacher drove through the pit lane without making a stop. The next lap Michael Schumacher came into the pits again and the steering wheel of his Ferrari was replaced. On lap 40 Barrichello passed Zonta and was now 7th. On lap 41 de la Rosa made his second pit stop and lost his 4th place to Fisichella. Barrichello took 6th from Takagi. On lap 43 Barrichello passed de la Rosa for 5th.


1999 Australian Grand Prix, Report, Race
With eleven laps to go Zonta came in to have his rear wing checked and rejoined just ahead of race leader Irvine, holding him up for two laps before slowing down with gearbox problems. At the finish line Irvine was first, winning his first Grand Prix, ahead of Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella and Barrichello. De la Rosa was 6th, scoring a point on his Formula One debut.


1999 Australian Individual Speedway Championship
The 1999 Australian Individual Speedway Championship was held at the Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura, Victoria on 13 February 1999.


1999 Australian Individual Speedway Championship
Former World #3 Todd Wiltshire won his first Australian Championship defeating Jason Lyons in a runoff after both finished on 14 points. Adelaide's Nigel Sadler finished third after defeating Perth's Frank Smart and local youngster Travis McGowan in a runoff after all three riders finished on 10 points.


1999 Australian Individual Speedway Championship
Despite the championship being run on his home track, defending champion Leigh Adams did not ride in the Australian Final for the first time since 1991 where he had been forced to withdraw after breaking his wrist in a crash in Adelaide three weeks before the event.


1999 Australian Open
The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. It was the 87th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam of the calendar year. Total attendance for the event reached 391,504.


1999 Australian Open
In the singles competition, Petr Korda and Martina Hingis were the defending champions. Korda was unseeded at this tournament and was eliminated in the third round by American 15th seed Todd Martin. This loss resulted in him falling down the rankings from 20th to 76th. Later in July, Korda received a suspension from tennis by the ITF after testing positive for nandrolone at Wimbledon last year. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, on the other hand, ended up becoming the men's champion, defeating surprise finalist Swede Thomas Enqvist in four sets.


1999 Australian Open
With this win, Kafelnikov became the first Russian, male or female, to win an Australian Open title. In the women's singles, two-time defending champion Martina Hingis successfully defended her title, defeating another surprise finalist in Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo. This win allowed Hingis to join Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles. Amélie Mauresmo would later become the World No. 1 in 2004, and despite being one of the top players of the early to mid-2000s, this would be her only Grand Slam final until the 2006 Australian Open, which she won.


1999 Australian Open
In doubles, the defending champions were Jonas Björkman and Jacco Eltingh for the men's, Martina Hingis and Mirjana Lučić for the women's, and Venus Williams and Justin Gimelstob for the mixed. Eltingh did not participate at this year's Australian Open, leaving Björkman to team up with Australia's Patrick Rafter. Rafter and Björkman later won the title, defeating the Indian first seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in five sets. Hingis and Lučić also separated, with Hingis teaming up with Anna Kournikova and Lučić teaming up with Mary Pierce.


1999 Australian Open
Lučić and Pierce fell in the first round, but Hingis and Kournikova went on to win, by defeating first seeds Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva at the final. The mixed doubles competition saw Williams and Gimelstob not competing, and none of the seeds reaching past the second round. In the end, the South African team of Mariaan de Swardt and David Adams won, defeating Williams' sister Serena and her partner Max Mirnyi in the final.


1999 Australian Open
The Juniors Competition saw the first ever junior double, with Kristian Pless and Virginie Razzano both winning their respective singles and doubles titles. Pless defeated Mikhail Youzhny in the singles before teaming up with Jürgen Melzer to defeat the Czech team of Ladislav Chramosta and Michal Navrátil in the doubles. Razzano defeated Katarína Bašternáková in the singles final and teamed up Eleni Daniilidou to defeat South Africans Natalie Grandin and Nicole Rencken in straight sets.


1999 Australian Open
The last time a boy won both the singles and doubles title at a Grand Slam was Roger Federer at the previous year's Wimbledon, while the last girl was Cara Black at the Wimbledon the year before. Julien Jeanpierre and Mirjana Lučić were the last players to win Australian Open Junior singles and doubles titles in the same year; in 1998 and 1997 respectively.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors
There were five competitions open to professional tennis players. The Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association awarded ranking points in all events apart from the mixed doubles. The singles draws were contested by one hundred and twenty eight players, while sixty four teams partook in the doubles events, and thirty two teams lined up in the mixed doubles competition.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Singles
With World No. 1 Pete Sampras absent, along with World No. 2 and last year's finalist Marcelo Ríos, the No. 1 spot was thought to be up for grabs coming into this year's Australian Open. Andre Agassi was considered the favourite, having won the 1995 Australian Open and having what was thought to be an easy path to the semifinals, Carlos Moyà being the only player considered to be a threat to him. Patrick Rafter was also considered a favourite, despite having in-form players Thomas Enqvist and Mark Philippoussis in his path. Àlex Corretja was another possibility to claim the No. 1 spot, being the World No. 3 and only a third round appearance to defend.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Singles
With Ríos' withdrawal, Àlex Corretja was the top seed at No. 2, with US Open champion Patrick Rafter, French Open champion Carlos Moyá and Andre Agassi following. Tim Henman, last year's semifinalist Karol Kučera, Greg Rusedski, Richard Krajicek and Yevgeny Kafelnikov made up the rest of the Top 10 seeds. Despite being the defending champion, Petr Korda was not seeded as he was outside the Top 17.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Singles
The first round saw the first upset of the tournament, with Moyá falling to World No. 37 Nicolas Kiefer in four sets. 12th seed Albert Costa, 13th seed Cédric Pioline and 16th seed Thomas Johansson also fell in the first round. Corretja, 15th seed Todd Martin and Korda all survived five set encounters. The second round saw the end of Corretja's No. 1 dreams as went down in four sets to World No. 86 Christian Ruud. Rusedski was also the victim of an upset, falling to qualifier Paul Goldstein also in four sets.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Singles
The third round saw further upsets, as Rafter fell in four sets to Enqvist, Henman went down to Swiss Marc Rosset in three, and Krajicek went down to Wayne Ferreira in five. The third round also saw the end of Korda, falling to Martin in five sets; and Kafelnikov survive an encounter with 1992 and 1993 champion Jim Courier, Courier having retired in the fourth set.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Singles
The fourth round saw Martin, Kafelnikov and Kučera being the only seeds to progress to the quarterfinals. 14th seed Mark Philippoussis fell to Enqvist, and Agassi was defeated by World No. 44 Vincent Spadea in four sets. Unseeded players Tommy Haas, Nicolás Lapentti and Marc Rosset also progressed. The quarterfinals saw the end of Martin, being defeated by Kafelnikov in three sets. It also saw Haas defeating Spadea, and Enqvist continuing his good form against Rosset. The quarterfinals also witnessed the end of Kučera, being defeated in a five-set contest against Lapentti. This meant that Sampras would not be forfeiting his No. 1 ranking as previously predicted.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Singles
The semifinals saw the final seed in the draw, Kafelnikov, progressing past Haas in three sets to reach his first Grand Slam final since 1996. His opponent was Enqvist, who also passed to the final in three sets, defeating Lapentti. The final saw Enqvist win the first set, before Kafelnikov came back to take the next three. Kafelnikov's ranking rose to No. 3 following this tournament, and he became the first Russian tennis player to win the Australian Open.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
The seeds of the 1999 Australian Open were led by the previous year's Grand Slam champions. US Open champion Lindsay Davenport was the first seed, Australian Open champion Martina Hingis came second, Wimbledon champion Jana Novotná was third and French Open champion Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was fourth. Following behind came Venus Williams, four-time Australian Open champion Monica Seles, 1995 Australian Open champion Mary Pierce, Patty Schnyder, last year's Australian Open finalist Conchita Martínez, and four-time Australian Open winner Steffi Graf. Dominique Van Roost, Anna Kournikova, Irina Spîrlea, Sandrine Testud, Natasha Zvereva and Amanda Coetzer were also seeded.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
The first round of the women's singles saw every seed go through except for 13th seed Irina Spîrlea, who lost to former finalist and last year's semifinalist Anke Huber, 7–5, 6–4. There was a scare, however, for 5th seed Venus Williams, who dropped the first set to World No. 82 Croatian Silvija Talaja, 3–6, and was struggling through the third; at one point being two points away from defeat. However, in the end, she managed to survive, winning, 3–6, 6–3, 9–7.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
The second round was the setting for the first major upset of the tournament when 4th seed and two-time finalist Arantxa Sánchez Vicario fell easily to the World No. 24 Barbara Schett, 6–2, 6–2. 8th seed Patty Schnyder also fell in the second round to teenage Frenchwoman and World No. 29, Amélie Mauresmo, 6–7(1–7), 6–4, 6–3.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
The third round saw 15th seed Natasha Zvereva fall to Chanda Rubin in three sets, last year's finalist and 9th seed Conchita Martínez go down in three sets to Émilie Loit in what was Loit's first Top 10 victory, and another major upset when 3rd seed Jana Novotná lost to Spaniard María Sánchez Lorenzo, 6–3, 6–0. 14th seed Sandrine Testud was almost the victim of another upset, but she saved two match points against her opponent Serena Williams and defeated her, 6–2, 2–6, 9–7.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
The third round also saw the end of home dreams, when Aussies Nicole Pratt and Jelena Dokić both fell to Amélie Mauresmo and Martina Hingis respectively. The fourth round saw an easy progression for the World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport over the last qualifier remaining, Canadian Maureen Drake. Fellow Americans Venus Williams and Monica Seles also had easy wins; as did Steffi Graf, Mary Pierce and Dominique Van Roost. Defending champion Martina Hingis lost the second set to Amanda Coetzer, but came back to easily take the third, 6–1. The final spot in the quarterfinals was decided by an all-French match between Émilie Loit and Amélie Mauresmo. Mauresmo won the first set without losing a game, and then went on to win the second set, 7–5, despite a valiant effort from Loit.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
Martina Hingis, referring to Amélie Mauresmo on the eve of their final.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
The quarterfinals saw Davenport easily defeat Williams, Hingis breeze through Pierce, and Seles coming back from 4–5 down in the first set to defeat Graf, 7–5, 6–1, which would be the last match in their rivalry which Seles won; and her only post-stabbing victory over Graf. Surprise quarterfinalist Mauresmo continued her momentum, causing another upset by defeating Van Roost in two sets. In the semifinals, Mauresmo went on to cause the biggest upset of the tournament, by defeating the World No. 1 Davenport in three sets, 4–6, 7–5, 7–5, despite Davenport leading 4–2 in the third set.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Singles
On the other side, Martina Hingis reached her third consecutive Australian Open final, having defeating Monica Seles, 6–2, 6–4, and restricting Seles' Open Era record for an Australian Open winning streak made by a woman to 33. In the final, Hingis defeated Mauresmo in straight sets, 6–2, 6–3. With this win, Hingis joined Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Doubles
Last year's double star and defending champion Jacco Eltingh retired at the end of the previous year, so his former partner Jonas Björkman teamed up with countryman Patrick Rafter as the fifth seed.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Doubles
The other top seeds were "Indian Express" (Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes) at No. 1, the "Woodies" (Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde) at No. 2, Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor at No. 3, and Ellis Ferreira and Rick Leach at No. 4 . Former Eltingh partner Paul Haarhuis teamed up with Patrick Galbraith to make the sixth seeded team. Frenchmen Olivier Delaître and Fabrice Santoro were No. 7; and Sébastien Lareau and Alex O'Brien came at No. 8.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Doubles
The first round saw half of the No. 9 to No. 16 seeds fall; and Lareau and O'Brien joining them. Knowles and Nestor fell in the second round, and Delaître and Santoro went out in the third round. Apart from those casualties, however, all of the Top 8 made the quarterfinals. Also in the quarterfinals were Americans Richey Reneberg and Jonathan Stark, Gustavo Kuerten and Nicolás Lapentti; and tenth seeds Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Daniel Vacek.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Doubles
Kuerten and Lapentti withdrew from the quarterfinals due to Lapentti's unexpected run to the semifinals of the singles competition. As such, Björkman and Rafter (who would've been their opponents) got an effective bye to the semifinals of the doubles. First seeds Bhupathi and Paes joined them, after triumphing over Reneberg and Stark; second seeds Woodbridge and Woodforde followed, defeating Kafelnikov and Vacek; and fourth seeds Ferreira and Leach also went through, defeating Galbraith and Haarhuis.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Doubles
Bhupathi and Paes easily defeated Ferreira and Leach, 7–6(7–1), 6–3, 7–6(7–5) to end up in the final, where they were joined by Björkman and Rafter; who came back from two sets down to defeat the Woodies, 3–6, 4–6, 6–2, 6–2, 8–6. The final of the men's doubles ended up also going to five sets after Bhupathi and Paes won a very close tiebreaker in the fourth (12–10). However, Björkman and Rafter took out the fifth set 6–4 to claim Björkman's second and Rafter's only Grand Slam doubles title.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Men's Doubles
Jonas Björkman /  Patrick Rafter defeated  Mahesh Bhupathi /  Leander Paes, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7(10–12), 6–4


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Doubles
With none of the teams present having won a Grand Slam doubles title together, the competition was wide open. Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva were the first seeds, having lost in the finals of all the Grand Slams last year. Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs followed them as the second seed, while last year's doubles star and defending champion Martina Hingis and her new doubles partner Anna Kournikova were the third seed.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Doubles
Veterans Larisa Neiland and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario teamed up to make the fourth seed, while Elena Likhovtseva and Ai Sugiyama came in at No. 5. Conchita Martínez and Patricia Tarabini; Mariaan de Swardt and Elena Tatarkova; and Irina Spîrlea and Caroline Vis were the rest of the top eight seeds. Hingis' former doubles partner and fellow defending champion Mirjana Lučić teamed up with Mary Pierce as the sixteenth seed.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Doubles
The first round saw one major casualty in Martínez and Tarabini, who fell to wildcards Jelena Dokić and Åsa Carlsson. The first round also saw a quick end to Lučić and Pierce, who fell in straight sets to Christina Singer and Helena Vildová. The second round saw the fall of Likhovtseva and Sugiyama, and Spîrlea and Vis. The only major casualty of the third round was de Swardt and Tatarkova.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Doubles
All the top three seeds made it to the semifinals, and they were joined by the up-and-coming Williams sisters, who defeated Neiland and Sánchez Vicario en route. Davenport and Zvereva defeated the Williams sisters to reach the final, in what is their fifth consecutive Grand Slam final; and Davenport's fourth consecutive Australian Open final in doubles. They were joined by Hingis and Kournikova, in what is also Hingis' fifth consecutive Grand Slam doubles final and Kournikova's first. Hingis and Kournikova triumphed in straight sets, 7–5, 6–3, to make Hingis' fifth doubles Grand Slam win and the fifth doubles Grand Slam defeat of Davenport and Zvereva.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Women's Doubles
Martina Hingis /  Anna Kournikova defeated  Lindsay Davenport /  Natasha Zvereva, 7–5, 6–3


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Mixed Doubles
The seeds for the mixed doubles title were led by 1991 French Open finalists Caroline Vis and Paul Haarhuis. Anna Kournikova and Mark Knowles came second, while Rennae Stubbs and Jim Grabb and Mirjana Lučić and Mahesh Bhupathi followed.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Mixed Doubles
In a massive surprise, all of the top three seeds fell in the first round, with No. 6 seeds Katrina Adams and Leander Paes and No. 8 seeds Lisa Raymond and Patrick Galbraith following. The second round saw no seeds progressing to the quarterfinals. Lučić and Bhupathi fell to Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson; No. 5 seeds Larisa Neiland and Rick Leach went down to Debbie Graham and Ellis Ferreira; while No. 7 seeds Elena Tatarkova and Cyril Suk were defeated by Mariaan de Swardt and David Adams.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Mixed Doubles
The semifinals had Manon Bollegraf and Pablo Albano, who defeated Vis and Haarhuis earlier, draw against wildcards Serena Williams and Max Mirnyi, who defeated Stubbs and Grabb. The other side had Graham and Ferreira drawn against de Swardt and Adams. Williams and Mirnyi easily defeated Bollegraf and Albano in straight sets, while de Swardt and Adams came back from a set down to defeat Graham and Ferreira. In the final, de Swardt and Adams triumphed after losing the second set to take the decider in a close tiebreak.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Seniors, Mixed Doubles
Mariaan de Swardt /  David Adams defeated  Serena Williams /  Max Mirnyi, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(7–5)


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Singles
Dane Kristian Pless headed the seeds of the Boys' Singles, with Jarkko Nieminen, Ladislav Chramosta, Éric Prodon and Jaroslav Levinský made up the rest of the Top 5.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Singles
All the seeds passed the first round without severe difficulty. The first upsets came in the second round Chramosta fell to American Levar Harper-Griffith, and fellow seeds David Martin, Mark Hilton and Alex Bogomolov, Jr. joining him.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Singles
The quarterfinals consisted off Pless, 8th seed Jean-Christophe Faurel, Harper-Griffith, Francesco Aldi (who upset 7th seed Andy Roddick en route), Levinský, Prodon, Simone Amorico (who upset 6th seed Jürgen Melzer) and Mikhail Youzhny (who defeated Nieminen). Pless defeated Faurel, Aldi defeated Harper-Griffith, and Youzhny defeated Amorico all in two sets, while Levinský took three sets involving a lengthy third set to defeat Prodon, 3–6, 6–0, 9–7.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Singles
Pless only dropped two games to defeat Aldi and advance to the final. His opponent was Youzhny, who defeated Levinský, 7–6, 7–5. Pless defeated Youzhny, 6–4, 6–3, to capture the Boys' Singles title.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Singles
The field for this year's Girls' Singles was headed by Nadia Petrova, who despite being the first seed, had to go through the qualifying. Slovenia's Tina Hergold was seeded second, and Wynne Prakusya was third, despite also having to go through qualifying. Greek Eleni Daniilidou and American Ansley Cargill made the rest of the Top 5.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Singles
The first round saw a quick end to Cargill, winning only three games against Italian qualifier Flavia Pennetta. 7th seed Iveta Benešová also departed, along with 15th seed Györgyi Zsíros. Three further seeds were defeated in the second round: Czech 8th seed Dája Bedáňová, 11th seed Michelle Gerards, and 16th seed Aniela Mojzis.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Singles
Petrova, Hergold and Daniilidou all made the quarterfinals. Prakusya was upset in three sets by New Zealand's 12th seed Leanne Baker. 13th Virginie Razzano also made it the quarterfinals, as did 9th seed Katarína Bašternáková by defeating American 8th seed Laura Granville en route. Unseeded players Hannah Collin and Roberta Vinci also made a quarterfinal appearance.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Singles
Petrova and Hergold defeated Collin and Vinci to reach the semifinals in two sets. Bašternáková disposed of Baker in three to meet Hergold, while Razzano dropped the first set but won the next two to upset Daniilidou and meet Petrova. The semifinals saw Razzano stun Petrova by defeating the Russian in straight sets. Bašternáková was struggling against Hergold, but ended up winning in three sets to make a final appearance. Razzano ended up dominating Bašternáková in the final, only dropping two games to win.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
Americans Bo Hodge and David Martin were the first seeds. Czechs Ladislav Chramosta and Michal Navrátil came second, while Jürgen Melzer teamed up with the first seed in singles, Kristian Pless, as the third seeded team.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
The first round saw an early exit to Hodge and Martin, falling to Canadians Philip Gubenco and Charles-Antoine Sévigny. South African fifth seeds Andrew McDade and Dirk Stegmann, Norwegian fifth seeds Stian Boretti and Jørgen Vestli, and American sixth seeds Simone Amorico and Alex Bogomolov, Jr. also fell. The remaining seeds then proceeded through the quarterfinals without too much trouble.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
Chramosta and Navrátil got a virtual bye through to the semifinals after their opponents, Maximilian Abel and Jaroslav Levinský, withdrew. Melzer and Pless passed easily to the semifinals, as did Italian fourth seeds Francesco Aldi and Stefano Mocci. Gubenco and Sévigny also advanced.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
Melzer and Pless fought off a three-set contest from their Canadian opponents to win, 6–2, 4–6, 6–2. The other semifinal match saw Chramosta and Navrátil recover from losing the first set in a tiebreak, to win the second in another tiebreak and the third in a bagel. The first set of the final also ended up being a tiebreak, which went to the Czechs. However, Melzer and Pless came back, only dropping three games, to take the next two sets and the championships.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
Jürgen Melzer /  Kristian Pless defeated  Ladislav Chramosta /  Michal Navrátil, 6–7, 6–3, 6–0


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
The American team of Ansley Cargill and Lindsay Dawaf led the field, with Dája Bedáňová and Aniela Mojzis following as the second seeds, and Slovaks Katarína Bašternáková and Zuzana Kučová coming in third.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
The first round witnessed the defeat of the fourth seeded Czechs Dominika Luzarová and Iveta Benešová, as well as the defeat of the sixth, seventh and eighth seeds. The second round saw one further upset, with Cargill and Dawaf falling to Eleni Daniilidou and Virginie Razzano. Despite winning the first set, 6–4, the Americans only won one game in the final two sets.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
Bedáňová and Mojzis progressed through to the semifinals by defeating Aussies Monique Adamczak and Sarah Stone in three sets. No such success came, however, for Bašternáková and Kučová, as they fell in two sets to South African fifth seeds Natalie Grandin and Nicole Rencken. Daniilidou and Razzano also progressed, while the final spot in the semifinals was won by home hopes Melanie-Ann Clayton and Nicole Sewell.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
Clayton and Sewell won the first set against Daniilidou and Razzano, but the Europeans prevailed, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. The other semifinal match also went to three sets, but Grandin and Rencken ended up defeating Bedáňová and Mojzis, 6–4, 4–6, 6–4. The final was decisive, with Daniilidou and Razzano dominating Grandin and Rencken throughout, only dropping two games to win, 6–1, 6–1.


1999 Australian Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
Eleni Daniilidou /  Virginie Razzano defeated  Natalie Grandin /  Nicole Rencken, 6–1, 6–1


1999 Australian Open – Boys' Doubles
Jérôme Haehnel and Julien Jeanpierre were the defending champions, but they did not compete in the Junior's this year. Jürgen Melzer and Kristian Pless won in the final 6–7, 6–3, 6–0, against Ladislav Chramosta and Michal Navrátil.


1999 Australian Open – Boys' Singles
Julien Jeanpierre was the defending champion, but did not compete this year. Danish first seed Kristian Pless won the title, defeating Russian ninth seed Mikhail Youzhny in the final, 6–4, 6–3.


1999 Australian Open – Girls' Doubles
Evie Dominikovic and Alicia Molik were the defending champions, but they did not compete in the Junior's this year.


1999 Australian Open – Girls' Doubles
The unseeded pair of Eleni Daniilidou and Virginie Razzano won in the final 6–1, 6–1, against South Africans Natalie Grandin and Nicole Rencken.


1999 Australian Open – Girls' Singles
Following are the results of the 1999 Australian Open – Girls' Singles. The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 87th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam of the calendar year.


1999 Australian Open – Girls' Singles
Jelena Kostanić was the defending champion, but did not compete in 1999.French thirteenth seed Virginie Razzano won the title, defeating Slovakian ninth seed Katarína Bašternáková in the final, 6–1, 6–1.


1999 Australian Open – Men's Doubles
Jonas Björkman and Jacco Eltingh were the defending champions, but Eltingh did not compete this year. Björkman teamed up with Patrick Rafter, and they won the title defeating the first-seeded Indian team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in the final, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7(10–12), 6–4. This would be Rafter's only grand slam doubles title.


1999 Australian Open – Men's Singles
Tenth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated Thomas Enqvist in the final, 4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 7–6(7–1) to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 1999 Australian Open. With this win, Kafelnikov became the first Russian (male or female) to win the Australian Open.


1999 Australian Open – Men's Singles
Petr Korda was the defending champion, but lost in the third round to Todd Martin.


1999 Australian Open – Men's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


1999 Australian Open – Men's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for the men's singles main draw at the 1999 Australian Open.


1999 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles
The 1999 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles was the mixed doubles event of the eighty-seventh edition of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year. Venus Williams and Justin Gimelstob were the defending champions but did not compete that year.


1999 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles
Mariaan de Swardt and David Adams won in the final 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(7–5), against Serena Williams and Max Mirnyi.


1999 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles
One of the surprises of this tournament was that over half of the seeds fell in the first round, and none of the seeds made it past the second round.


1999 Australian Open – Women's Doubles
The 1999 Australian Open – Women's Doubles was the women's doubles event of the eighty-seventh edition of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year and the most prestigious tournament in the Asia-Pacific and the Southern Hemisphere. Martina Hingis and Mirjana Lučić were the defending champions, but Hingis competed with Russian Anna Kournikova, and Lučić competed with Frenchwoman Mary Pierce. Lučić and Pierce were defeated in the first round by Christina Singer and Helena Vildová. Hingis and Kournikova, however, ended up winning the title, defeating first seeds Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva, 7–5, 6–3.


1999 Australian Open – Women's Doubles
With this win, Hingis won her fifth consecutive Grand Slam title in doubles, and became the only woman to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles in singles and doubles simultaneously. Hingis and her partners defeated Davenport/Zvereva for all five consecutive women's doubles titles starting with the 1998 Australian and ending with the 1999 Australian Open.


1999 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Martina Hingis was the two-time defending champion, and she defeated unseeded Amélie Mauresmo, 6–2, 6–3, in the final to win the Women's Singles tennis title at the 1999 Australian Open. With this win, she joined Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles. Hingis also became the only woman to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles in singles and doubles simultaneously.


1999 Australian Open – Women's Singles
This was future number one Mauresmo's first Grand Slam final, and was also the first time she had progressed past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. This would be her only Grand Slam final until 2006, despite Mauresmo being one of the top players of the early 2000s.


1999 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Prior to her semifinal defeat to Hingis, Monica Seles was 33 matches undefeated at the Australian Open, dating back to her first match in 1991, the most by a woman in the Open Era. It was therefore Seles’ first ever loss at the tournament.


1999 Australian Open – Women's Singles
This tournament was the first Grand Slam in which two future World No. 3 singles players, Nadia Petrova and Elena Dementieva, competed in the main draw. They lost to Dominique Van Roost and Hingis in the first and second rounds respectively. It was also the last Australian Open appearance for four-time champion Steffi Graf, who lost to Seles in the quarterfinals.


1999 Australian Open – Women's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


1999 Australian Sports Sedan Championship
The 1999 Australian Sports Sedan Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Sports Sedans complying with CAMS Group 2D regulations. The championship, which was the fifteenth Australian Sports Sedan Championship, was won by Tony Ricciardello driving an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV – Chevrolet.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship
The 1999 Australian Super Touring Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Super Touring Cars. It began on 18 April 1999 at Lakeside International Raceway and ended on 29 August at Calder Park Raceway after eight rounds and twenty one races. Promoted as the BOC Gases Australian Touring Car Championship, organised by TOCA Australia and sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as an Australian Title, it was the seventh annual Australian championship for Super Touring Cars and the fifth to carry the Australian Super Touring Championship name.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship
Paul Morris won the Drivers Championship, Volvo won the Manufacturers Championship and Volvo Racing was awarded the Teams Championship.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship, Teams and drivers
The following drivers competed in the 1999 Australian Super Touring Championship.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship, Results and standings, Race calendar
The 1999 Australian Super Touring Championship consisted of twenty one races at eight rounds held in four different states. Two races were held at each of the first three rounds and three races were held at each of the remaining five rounds.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship, Results and standings, Drivers Championship
Points were awarded 15–12–10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 based on the top ten race positions in each race. There was a bonus point allocated for pole position. The first three race meetings had a qualifying session for each race. After that there was just one qualifying session per round.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship, Results and standings, Manufacturers Championship
Manufacturers Championship points were awarded on a 15–12–10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis for relative positions achieved by the best placed car from each eligible manufacturer at each race. Only two manufacturers were eligible to score points in the 1999 championship.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship, Results and standings, Teams Championship
Teams Championship points were awarded on a 15–12–10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis for relative positions achieved by entries from multi-car teams at each race.


1999 Australian Super Touring Championship, Results and standings, TOCA Challenge – Independents Cup
Independents Cup points were awarded on a 15–12–10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis for relative positions achieved by drivers in entries nominated as Independents at each race.


1999 Australian Touring Car season
The 1999 Australian Touring Car season was the 40th year of touring car racing in Australia since the first runnings of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the fore-runner of the present day Bathurst 1000, the Armstrong 500.


1999 Australian Touring Car season
Two major touring car categories raced in Australia during 1999, V8 Supercar and Super Touring. Between them there were 25 touring car race meetings held during 1999; a thirteen-round series for V8 Supercars, the 1999 Shell Championship Series (SCS), two of them endurance races; an eight-round series for Super Touring, the 1999 Australian Super Touring Championship (ASTC); support programme events at the 1999 Australian Grand Prix and 1999 Honda Indy 300 and two stand-alone long distance races, nicknamed 'enduros'.


1999 Australian Touring Car season, Results and Standings, Race Calendar
The 1999 Australian touring car season consisted of 25 events.


1999 Australian Touring Car season, Results and Standings, Hot Wheels V8 Supercar Showdown
This meeting was a support event of the 1999 Australian Grand Prix.


1999 Australian Touring Car season, Results and Standings, V8 Supercar Challenge
This meeting was a support event of the 1999 Honda Indy 300.


1999 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix
The 1999 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 1999 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 3 October 1999 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.


1999 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (500cc)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round thirteen has concluded.


1999 Australian republic referendum
The Australian republic referendum held on 6 November 1999 was a two-question referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia. The first question asked whether Australia should become a republic with a President appointed by Parliament following a bi-partisan appointment model which had been approved by a half-elected, half-appointed Constitutional Convention held in Canberra in February 1998. The second question, generally deemed to be far less important politically, asked whether Australia should alter the Constitution to insert a preamble. For some years opinion polls had suggested that a majority of the electorate favoured a republic. Nonetheless, the republic referendum was defeated, partly due to division among republicans on the method proposed for selection of the president and dissident republicans subsequently supporting the no campaign.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Background
Australia is a constitutional monarchy under the Constitution of Australia adopted in 1901, with the duties of the monarch performed by a Governor-General selected by the Australian Government (although formally appointed by the monarch). Australian republicanism has persisted since colonial times, though through much of the 20th century the monarchy remained popular. In the early 1990s, republicanism became an important political issue. Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Paul Keating indicated a desire to instigate a republic in time for the Centenary of the Federation of Australia in 2001. The opposition Liberal-National Coalition, led by Alexander Downer, though less supportive of the republic plan, promised to convene a Constitutional Convention to discuss the issue. Under John Howard, the Coalition won the 1996 Federal Election and set the Convention date for February 1998.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Background
The Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 debated the need for a change to the Constitution of Australia which would abolish the Australian monarchy. The convention considered three categories of model for the selection of the head of state in an Australian republic: direct election, parliamentary election by a special majority, and appointment by a special council following prime ministerial nomination.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Background
"In principle" agreement was reached by a majority of delegates for an Australian Republic (though a minority bloc of monarchists dissented). Following a series of votes, a proposal for a "Bipartisan Appointment of the President Model" for an Australian republic was endorsed by a majority of delegates who voted for or against the motion (monarchists and some radical-change republicans abstained from the vote). The Convention recommended to the Prime Minister and Parliament of Australia that the model, and other related changes to the Constitution, supported by the convention, be put to the people in a constitutional referendum in 1999.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Division of electorate
The majority of analysis has advanced two main reasons for the referendum defeat:


1999 Australian republic referendum, Division of electorate
First, Australians have traditionally been cautious about proposed constitutional change. Beginning in 1906, only eight of 44 proposals put to a referendum have been approved by the constitutionally required double majority – that is, (1) a majority in each of a majority of the six States and (2) a majority nationally. In Sir Robert Menzies' words, "to get an affirmative vote from the Australian people on a referendum proposal is one of the labours of Hercules."


1999 Australian republic referendum, Division of electorate
Second, public opinion varied widely on the issue, and was not a simple positive or negative reaction. The major opinion groups were:


1999 Australian republic referendum, Division of electorate, Alternative methods for selecting a president
The process for change is seen as an important factor for the eventual outcome in a referendum. There were several other proposals for selecting a president:


1999 Australian republic referendum, Division of electorate, Alternative methods for selecting a president
Different groups within the republican cause expressed views as to which model was preferable. Some were committed to one option exclusively.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The two sides, The 'Yes' side
The 'Yes' campaign was headed by Malcolm Turnbull. It was divided in detail but nevertheless managed to present a fairly united and coherent message and was notable for unlikely alliances between traditional opponents—for example, former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser gave joint statements. Many other prominent Australians also endorsed the 'Yes' vote, which led to claims that the movement was "elitist" in sentiment and supported by politicians rather than the public at large.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The two sides, The 'Yes' side
Viewing the case for a republic as fairly self-evident and broadly supported by the Australian populace, their advertising concentrated mainly on the positive symbolism of the republican case. The 'Yes' campaign was also viewed as having the support of the popular Australian media; British politician and journalist Bill Deedes said in The Daily Telegraph in 1999: "I have rarely attended elections in any country, certainly not a democratic one, in which the newspapers have displayed more shameless bias. One and all, they determined that Australians should have a republic and they used every device towards that end."


1999 Australian republic referendum, The two sides, The 'No' side
The organised 'No' campaign was a mixture of monarchist groups. Additionally it included some republican groups who did not feel that the proposed model was satisfactory; in particular, they thought that the people should elect the President. Headed by Kerry Jones, the 'No' campaign concentrated on the perceived flaws of the model on offer, claiming that those who supported the 'Yes' push were "elites" (although many leading figures on the monarchist side also had "elite" backgrounds), and skillfully managing to appeal both to those apprehensive about the change and to those feeling that the model did not go far enough. Their advertising emphasised voting 'No' to "this republic", implying to direct-election supporters that a model more to their preferences was likely to be put in the future.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The two sides, The 'No' side
The common elements within the 'No' campaign were the view that the model proposed was undemocratic and would lead to a "politician's republic", playing to a general distrust of politicians. ' No' campaigners called for further consultation, while remaining non-specific on what steps were needed to ensure this.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Constitutional Convention
The model with an appointed head of state was the one endorsed by the Constitutional Convention and put forward at the referendum. It was broadly supported by both minimalist and establishment republicans, including almost all Labor and some conservative politicians. Progressive republicans in the general community opposed the indirect elected model urging people to vote against the referendum. It was opposed by monarchists of both kinds.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Constitutional Convention
Voting at the convention was open and was recorded in Hansard. Hansard shows that 73 delegates voted in favour, 57 against and 22 abstained. Not one constitutional monarchist delegate voted in favour. The policy of ACM and other monarchist groups was to oppose all republican models, including the minimalist McGarvie model. Some conservatives argued that this would be the easiest model to defeat in a referendum and therefore should be supported at the convention. Had the monarchists followed this advice, the McGarvie model would have prevailed at the convention.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Constitutional Convention
A number of republicans who supported direct election abstained from the vote (such as Ted Mack, Phil Cleary, Clem Jones and Andrew Gunter), thereby allowing the bi-partisan model to succeed. They reasoned that the model would be defeated at a referendum, and then a second referendum called with direct election as the model.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Constitutional Convention
Although the motion was passed by ignoring those who abstained, the referendum model did not enjoy the support of the majority of delegates, a condition which the Prime Minister had indicated for a referendum. Because the model was overwhelmingly supported by the republican delegates, the Prime Minister decided to put that model to the referendum, a decision acclaimed by the ARM delegates and the media.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Republic question
A proposed law: To alter the Constitution to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Commonwealth Parliament.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Preamble question
Electors were also asked to vote on a second question at the 1999 referendum which asked whether they approved of:


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Preamble question
A proposed law: To alter the Constitution to insert a preamble.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Results
Section 128 of the Australian Constitution requires a "double majority" in a referendum to approve a constitutional amendment—a majority of votes in each of a majority of the States (i.e. at least four of the six), and a majority of all the electors voting. Voters in the territories count only towards the second of those majorities.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Results
11,785,000 votes were cast, representing a voter turnout of 95.10%. Of these, approximately 100,000 (0.9%) were informal.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Results, The republic
A Proposed Law: To alter the Constitution to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Commonwealth Parliament.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Results, The republic
Obtained a majority in no State and an overall minority of 1,137,763 votes. Not carried.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Results, The preamble
Obtained a majority in no State and an overall minority of 2,489,435 votes. Not carried.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Analysis of results
Both propositions failed on both of the voting requirements. There was no majority for 'Yes' in any State, where the 'Yes' vote for the republic ranged from 37.44% in Queensland to 49.84% in Victoria, and for the preamble ranged from 32.81% in Queensland to 42.46% in Victoria. Overall, 54.87% voted 'No' to the republic, and 60.66% to the preamble.


1999 Australian republic referendum, The questions and results, Analysis of results
The highest 'Yes' votes for the republic came from inner metropolitan areas. Of Australia's 148 divisions, 42 voted 'Yes', with Melbourne (70.92%), Sydney (67.85%), Melbourne Ports (65.90%), Grayndler (64.77%) and Fraser (64.46%) registering the highest 'Yes' votes at division level. Sydney and Melbourne voted in favour of the proposition for Australia to become a republic, in contrast to 'No' votes in Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Perth. Votes in opposition to the proposal came predominantly from rural and remote divisions, as well as many outer suburban areas.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Aftermath
With republican models of one form or another winning a majority in opinion polls prior to the referendum, it was expected that the republican referendum would pass. However, the question put was for a particular model of republic with a head of state appointed by Parliament. This was opposed by some supporters of a republic, who preferred a directly elected head of state. Some of these, such as Phil Cleary, advocated that republic supporters vote 'No' in order that a future referendum could be put on the directly elected model. Some commentators—including the president of the Australian Republican Movement, Malcolm Turnbull—identified this split within the republican camp as a key reason for the referendum's failure.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Aftermath
After the referendum, Malcolm Turnbull blamed Prime Minister Howard in particular for the defeat and claimed:  "Whatever else he achieves, history will remember him for only one thing. He was the Prime Minister who broke a nation's heart." Meanwhile, the leader of Australians for a Constitutional monarchy, Kerry Jones, called for citizens to accept the result and go forward "as a united nation". Despite the hopes of more radical republicans such as Phil Cleary, the referendum defeat was generally viewed as a setback for the republican cause and further referendums on the subject were mooted by the Howard Government.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Aftermath
High Court Justice Michael Kirby, a constitutional monarchist, ascribed the failure of the republic referendum to ten factors: lack of bi-partisanship; undue haste; a perception that the republic was supported by big city elites; a "denigration" of monarchists as "unpatriotic" by republicans; the adoption of an inflexible republican model by the convention; concerns about the specific model proposed (chiefly the ease with which a Prime Minister could dismiss a president); a republican strategy of using big "names" attached to the Whitlam era to promote their cause; strong opposition to the proposal in the smaller states; a counter-productive pro-republican bias in the media; and an instinctive caution among the Australian electorate regarding Constitutional change.


1999 Australian republic referendum, Aftermath
The Gillard Labor government which took power in a hung parliament following the August 2010 election indicated an intention not to revisit the issue of a vote for an Australian republic during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The Liberal-National Coalition government in power following the September 2013 federal election was led by Tony Abbott, a supporter of constitutional monarchy. During Abbott's term as Prime Minister, Labor Opposition Leader Bill Shorten stated he believed it was time to "breathe new life into the dream of an Australian republic".


1999 Australian republic referendum, Aftermath
On 15 September 2015, Malcolm Turnbull, who had been Chairman of the Australian Republican Movement from 1993 until 2000, succeeded Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party, to become the Prime Minister of Australia. For the first time, the Prime Minister and the federal Opposition Leader, as well as the eight state and territory Premiers and Chief Ministers, were all self-declared republicans. Turnbull has stated that he believes Australia should become a republic after the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Turnbull was later succeeded, on 24 August 2018, by Scott Morrison, who subsequently declared himself a constitutional monarchist, and re-hung a portrait of the Queen in the Prime Minister's office, which Turnbull had removed.


1999 Austrian Grand Prix
The 1999 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 July 1999 at the A1-Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It was the ninth race of the 1999 Formula One season.


1999 Austrian Grand Prix
After Michael Schumacher broke his leg in the previous race at Silverstone, Ferrari's title attention turned to his teammate Eddie Irvine. David Coulthard nudged teammate Mika Häkkinen off the track on the first lap, pushing Häkkinen to the back. When Coulthard failed to hold off Irvine during the sole round of pitstops, the man from Northern Ireland wrapped up his 2nd Formula One win. Häkkinen fought through the field to finish 3rd. It was Ferrari's first win in Austria since 1970. Mika Salo substituted for Schumacher, while Pedro Diniz scored his last world championship points at this race.


1999 Austrian legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 3 October 1999.


1999 Austrian legislative election
Although the Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the National Council, a right-wing coalition government was formed by the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) after several months of negotiations. Although the FPÖ had finished a fraction of a point ahead of the ÖVP in the popular vote, ÖVP leader Wolfgang Schüssel became Chancellor rather than controversial FPÖ leader Jörg Haider. Haider, who had also been elected Landeshauptmann of Carinthia, was not appointed to the cabinet and resigned as party leader.


1999 Austrian legislative election
However, foreign governments remained critical of the FPÖ's inclusion in the government and the fourteen other member countries of the European Union imposed sanctions on the country, whilst domestically the government faced protests organised by the SPÖ and Greens. However, this pressure on the government helped stabilise it and when it became clear that the FPÖ was not going to be excluded from government, sanctions were lifted.


1999 Austrian legislative election, Contesting parties
The table below lists parties represented in the 20th National Council.


1999 Aylesbury Vale District Council election
The 1999 Aylesbury Vale District Council election took place on 6 May 1999 to elect members of Aylesbury Vale District Council in Buckinghamshire, England. The whole council was up for election and the Liberal Democrats lost overall control of the council to no overall control.


1999 Aïn Témouchent earthquake
The 1999 Aïn Témouchent earthquake occurred on December 22 at 18:36:56 local time in northern Algeria. The dip-slip event had a moment magnitude of 5.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). At least 22 were killed, 175 were injured, and 15,000 were homeless. The Belgian Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters' EM-DAT database and the USGS' National Geophysical Data Center both list financial losses of $60.93 million.


1999 BC Lions season
The 1999 BC Lions finished in first place in the West Division with a 13–5 record. They appeared in the West Final.


1999 BDO World Darts Championship
The 1999 Embassy World Professional Darts Championship was held from 2–10 January 1999 at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey.


1999 BDO World Darts Championship
Defending champion Raymond van Barneveld retained his title with victory over Ronnie Baxter in another thrilling final which, like the previous year's decider against Richie Burnett, went to the final set and a tiebreak. Barneveld became the first player to retain the Embassy World Championship since Eric Bristow won it in three consecutive years in 1984, 1985 and 1986.


1999 BDO World Darts Championship
The standout match of this championship, however, was the quarter-final between Chris Mason and Martin Adams. Adams looked well set for victory when he led 4–1 in sets, but he missed nine darts for the match, and this opened the door for Mason to stage a huge comeback, forcing a final-set tiebreak. Finally, Adams missed a double one which would have forced a sudden-death leg, and Mason hit it to secure a remarkable win. This match also saw no fewer than 29 180s - 16 for Adams and 13 for Mason.


1999 BDO World Darts Championship, Prize money
There was also a 9 Dart Checkout prize of £52,000, along with a High Checkout prize of £2,000.


1999 BMW Open
The 1999 BMW Open was a men's tennis tournament played on Clay courts in Munich, Germany that was part of the World Series of the 1999 ATP Tour. It was the eighty-third edition of the tournament and was held from 26 April until 3 May 1999. Unseeded Franco Squillari won the singles title.


1999 BMW Open, Finals, Doubles
Daniel Orsanic /  Mariano Puerta defeated  Massimo Bertolini /  Cristian Brandi, 7–6(7–3), 3–6, 7–6(7–3).


1999 BMW Open – Doubles
The 1999 BMW Open was a men's tennis tournament played on Clay courts in Munich, Germany that was part of the World Series of the 1999 ATP Tour. It was the eighty-third edition of the tournament and was held from April 26 – May 3.


1999 BMW Open – Doubles
Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde were the defending champions, but did not participate this year.


1999 BMW Open – Doubles
Daniel Orsanic and Mariano Puerta won the title, defeating Massimo Bertolini and Cristian Brandi 7–6, 3–6, 7–6 in the final.


1999 BMW Open – Singles
The 1999 BMW Open was a men's tennis tournament played on Clay courts in Munich, Germany that was part of the World Series of the 1999 ATP Tour. It was the eighty-third edition of the tournament and was held from April 26 – May 3.


1999 BMW Open – Singles
Thomas Enqvist was the defending champion, but lost in the first round this year.


1999 BMW Open – Singles
Franco Squillari won the title, defeating Andrei Pavel 6–4, 6–3 in the final.


1999 BYU Cougars football team
The 1999 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cougars were led by 28th-year head coach LaVell Edwards, in what would be his second-to-last season with the team, and played their home games at Cougar Stadium. This was the school's first year in the newly formed Mountain West Conference, and they would go on to share the conference's first conference championship with Utah and Colorado State. They finished with a record of 8–4 (5–2 MW), and were invited to the 1999 Motor City Bowl, where they lost to undefeated Marshall, 3–21.


1999 BYU Cougars football team, Schedule
•SportsWest Productions (SWP) games were shown locally on KSL 5.


1999 Babergh District Council election
The 1999 Babergh District Council election for the Babergh District Council in Suffolk was held on 6 May 1999. The whole council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.


1999 Badminton Asia Cup
The 1999 Badminton Asia Cup; officially called as JVC Asia Cup 1999 was the 2nd edition of the Badminton Asia Cup. It was held in Phan Đình Phùng indoor stadium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 10 November to 14 November with total prize money of 100,000 US Dollars. Tournament consisted of total of three matches in every team encounter, with format of Men's singles, Men's doubles and a second Men's singles match. Countries participated in this tournaments were Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Thailand, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam & China. Winning team & top seeded Indonesia got US$50,000 while runner-up Malaysian team got US$25,000. Third placed South Korean team got a total of US$15,000 and 4th ranked Chinese team bagged a total prize of US$10,000.


1999 Balearic regional election
The 1999 Balearic regional election was held on Sunday, 13 June 1999, to elect the 5th Parliament of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. All 59 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 1999 European Parliament election.


1999 Balearic regional election, Overview, Electoral system
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Balearic Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a President of the Government. Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Balearic Islands and in full enjoyment of their political rights.


1999 Balearic regional election, Overview, Electoral system
The 59 members of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. Each constituency was allocated a fixed number of seats: 33 for Mallorca, 13 for Menorca, 12 for Ibiza and 1 for Formentera.


1999 Balearic regional election, Overview, Electoral system
The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 1 percent of the electors registered in the constituency for which they sought election. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.


1999 Balearic regional election, Overview, Election date
The term of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands expired four years after the date of its previous election. Elections to the Parliament were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. Legal amendments introduced in 1998 allowed for these to be held together with European Parliament elections, provided that they were scheduled for within a four month-timespan. The previous election was held on 28 May 1995, setting the election date for the Parliament concurrently with a European Parliament election on Sunday, 13 June 1999.


1999 Balearic regional election, Overview, Election date
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands could not be dissolved before the date of expiry of parliament except in the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional President within a sixty-day period from the first ballot. In such a case, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.


1999 Balearic regional election, Opinion polls
The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 30 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of the Balearic Islands.


1999 Ball State Cardinals football team
The 1999 Ball State Cardinals football team was an American football team that represented Ball State University in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. In its fifth season under head coach Bill Lynch, the team compiled a 0–11 record (0–8 against conference opponents) and finished in sixth place out of six teams in the MAC West. The team played its home games at Ball State Stadium in Muncie, Indiana.


1999 Ball State Cardinals football team
The team's statistical leaders included Brian Conn with 1,525 passing yards, Nick Dunbar with 592 rushing yards, and Adrian Reese with 664 receiving yards and 30 points scored.


1999 Ballon d'Or
The 1999 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to Rivaldo on 21 December 1999.


1999 Ballon d'Or, Rankings
Additionally, 22 players were nominated but received no votes: Fabien Barthez, Dennis Bergkamp, Laurent Blanc, Gianluigi Buffon, Frank de Boer,  Marcel Desailly, Giovane Élber, Pep Guardiola,Filippo Inzaghi, Patrick Kluivert, Paolo Maldini, Fernando Morientes, Hidetoshi Nakata, Emmanuel Petit, Gus Poyet, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, Lilian Thuram, Sylvain Wiltord and Gianfranco Zola.


1999 Baltimore Orioles season
The 1999 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing 4th in the American League East with a record of 78 wins and 84 losses.


1999 Baltimore Orioles season, Cuban exhibition series
In a rare event on March 28, 1999, the Orioles staged an exhibition series against the Cuban national team in Havana. The Orioles won the game 3–2 in 11 innings. They were the first Major League team to play in Cuba since 1959, when the Los Angeles Dodgers faced the Orioles in an exhibition. The Cuban team visited Baltimore in May 1999. Cuba won the second game 10–6.


1999 Baltimore Orioles season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1999 Baltimore Orioles season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1999 Baltimore Orioles season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1999 Baltimore Orioles season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1999 Baltimore Orioles season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series
The 1999 Baltimore Orioles – Cuban national baseball team exhibition series consisted of two exhibition games played between the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Cuban national baseball team on March 28 and May 3, 1999. The first game took place in Havana, while the second was held in Baltimore. This series marked the first time that the Cuban national team had faced a squad composed solely of major league players and the first time an MLB team played in Cuba since 1959.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series
In the 1990s, Orioles' owner Peter Angelos lobbied the United States federal government to gain permission to hold this series for three years. Various politicians, including members of the United States House of Representatives, opposed the idea and attempted to block the series. Eventually, Angelos secured the approval in 1999, after a change in United States foreign policy to Cuba under President Bill Clinton, which eased travel restrictions and increased cultural exchange.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series
The Orioles won the first game, which was held in Havana, by a score of 3–2 in extra innings. The Cuban national team defeated the Orioles 12–6 in the second game, which was held in Baltimore. The series introduced José Contreras to the American baseball audience; Contreras defected from Cuba in 2002 to pitch in MLB. The United States and Cuba now compete with each other and other nations in the World Baseball Classic.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Background
The Cuban Revolution led to the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista, an ally of the United States, in 1959. Fidel Castro severed Cuba's formerly strong ties with the United States. The United States soon instituted an embargo against Cuba, which has made it illegal for United States corporations to enter into business with Cuba. The Baltimore Orioles, who were slated to hold a 1960 exhibition series against the Cincinnati Reds in Havana, moved the games to Miami, Florida.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Background
No Major League Baseball (MLB) team had played in Cuba since March 21, 1959. Castro made attempts to lure American baseball teams back to Cuba to no avail. In the 1970s, George McGovern, a United States Senator, pushed the idea of an exchange of MLB and college basketball teams as a way to bridge the impasse between the two governments, similar to the ping-pong diplomacy that aided US-China relations; however, this was blocked by the United States Department of State.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Background
In the 1980s, Scott Armstrong attempted to convince Edward Bennett Williams, then the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, to play a game of Cuban All-Stars against his Orioles. Williams declined, as he had a position on an advisory board in the Reagan Administration, which opposed having any business with Cuba. Armstrong discussed the idea with MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti and MLB Players Association (MLBPA) chair Donald Fehr. Though Giamatti was interested, he died before he could pursue the idea. Fehr visited Cuba during the 1994-95 MLB strike, but could not secure an antitrust exemption.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Background
In 1996, Peter Angelos, the new owner of the Orioles, met with Armstrong and Saul Landau, who convinced him to pursue an exhibition series between his Orioles and the Cuban national baseball team. Angelos petitioned the United States Government to permit a series. United States Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wrote to the State Department, asking that the series be prevented. The United States Department of the Treasury denied Angelos' request on the grounds that American money may not be spent in Cuba under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Background
In January 1999, President Bill Clinton eased travel restrictions and increased cultural exchange between the United States and Cuba, leading Angelos to again seek permission to play an exhibition game in Cuba. Angelos met with Sandy Berger, Clinton's National Security Advisor, to discuss a potential exhibition. Bud Selig, the MLB Commissioner, allowed for the exploration of the series, though it still required the approval of MLB owners and the MLBPA. The MLBPA insisted on a second game to be held in the United States. A contingent of United States Representatives, including Ros-Lehtinen, Robert Menendez, Dan Burton, Lincoln Díaz-Balart, and Rick Lazio, lobbied Fehr to try to block the series.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Background
Ongoing negotiations through March yielded an agreement on March 7, 1999, over the objections of the State Department. The proceeds of the series were a major sticking point in negotiations, as it violated the United States embargo against Cuba. Instead of going to the Cuban Government, it was agreed that proceeds would fund baseball programs in Cuba.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Background
The series created a good deal of criticism, especially among the Cuban American community. MLB umpire Rich Garcia, who is of Cuban descent, opposed the series. MLB umpires filed a grievance against MLB attempting to block them from being sent to umpire the game in Cuba, and refused to officiate the game in Baltimore. The Cuban American National Foundation protested the series. Former US diplomat Otto Reich likened the baseball match in Havana to the notion of playing soccer at Auschwitz and also the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, dismissing it as a propaganda ploy by the Cuban government.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Games, Game one
Game one took place at Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana, Cuba, on March 28, 1999. Tickets were distributed by invitation only. Angelos, Selig, and Castro sat together in box seats. One hundred schoolchildren from the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area also traveled to Cuba on a plane chartered by Angelos. Before the game, players and coaches on both teams engaged in a flag ceremony. Castro greeted the Orioles on the field, and gave his Cuban team a pep talk. Cuban baseball legend Conrado Marrero threw out the first pitch. The game was televised in the U.S. by ESPN with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan announcing.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Games, Game one
Orioles' starting pitcher Scott Erickson allowed one run on five hits in seven innings pitched. Cuban starter José Ibar allowed a home run to Charles Johnson and was relieved in the third inning by José Contreras. Contreras pitched eight innings without allowing a run. Orioles' manager Dave Miller brought in his closer, Mike Timlin, in the eighth inning. This backfired, as Omar Linares tied the game for Cuba with a run batted in single.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Games, Game one
Tied after nine innings, the game went into extra innings. Cuba had two runners on base in the 10th inning, but Mike Fetters retired Cuba without allowing a run. The Orioles won the game when Harold Baines hit a single off of Pedro Luis Lazo that scored Will Clark with the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th inning. Jesse Orosco recorded the final three outs in the bottom of the 11th, as the Orioles won by a score of 3–2.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Games, Game two
The second game was held at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on May 3, 1999, in front of 47,940 fans. By May 3, the Orioles had a 7–17 win-loss record in the 1999 MLB season. The Cuban national team, meanwhile, was stronger than during the first game, as the 1998–99 Cuban National Series had concluded and players who were not available for the first game of the exhibition joined the Cuban team. A 300-person delegation accompanied the Cuban team, including members of the Cuban media, students, and retired players. MLB requested the Federal Aviation Administration clear the airspace above Camden Yards for the game, in response to an attempt by a Miami-based pilot and veteran of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, to drop anti-Castro leaflets over Estadio Latinoamericano during the first game.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Games, Game two
The start of the game was delayed by rain for 56 minutes. The game was further interrupted by protesters, one of whom ran onto the field during the fifth inning and had to be thrown to the ground by César Valdez, a Cuban umpire. Contreras started the game for Cuba, and he allowed a two-run double by Baines in the first inning. Orioles' starting pitcher Scott Kamieniecki, who was on the MLB disabled list at the time, allowed four runs in the second inning to give Cuba the lead.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Games, Game two
Norge Luis Vera entered the game for Cuba in the third inning and pitched 6+2⁄3 innings in relief without allowing a hit, retiring 20 of the first 22 batters he faced. His hitless streak ended when he allowed a home run to Delino DeShields in the ninth inning. Gabe Molina, who had made his MLB debut on May 1, allowed Cuba to score five runs in the ninth inning, including a three-run home run hit by Andy Morales. The Cuban national team defeated the Orioles 12–6.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Games, Game two
Danel Castro batted 4-for-5 for Cuba, including a two run batted in (RBI) triple, and scored four runs. Calvin Pickering, a rookie first baseman for the Orioles who had been promoted from the minor leagues the day prior, committed three errors.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Aftermath
Rigoberto Herrera, a member of the Cuban national team who had retired and accompanied the team from Cuba as a guest, defected to the United States during the visit. Though six retired players overslept the day after the game in Baltimore and missed their flight back to Cuba, no other members of the delegation defected.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Aftermath
To discourage defections during the exhibition in Baltimore, Cuba maintained strict security around their young players, not allowing sports agents to speak with them. Though no active Cuban players defected during the trip to Baltimore, members of the Cuban national team did defect in the years following the series. Andy Morales defected in 2000. Contreras, who was considered Cuba's best pitcher, gained international fame after the series and defected from Cuba in 2002. Nelson Díaz, a Cuban umpire who officiated the game in Baltimore, defected from Cuba to the United States in 2009.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Aftermath
MLB and the Major League Umpires Association engaged in a dispute regarding the amount of pay owed to umpires for officiating the game that took place in Baltimore. This was one factor that led to the mass resignation of MLB umpires that took place on September 2, 1999.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Aftermath
In 2000, Syd Thrift, the Orioles' general manager, told The Washington Times that the team had a practice of not signing players who had defected from Cuba, which he attributed to Angelos' desire to avoid doing "anything that could be interpreted as being disrespectful or ... encouraging players to defect". Investigations by Major League Baseball and the United States Department of Justice did not find evidence that the absence of Cuban players on the Orioles' roster or in its minor league system was due to discrimination.


1999 Baltimore Orioles–Cuba national baseball team exhibition series, Aftermath
The Cuban national team next played in the United States during the 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC). President George W. Bush attempted to prevent the Cuban team from participating in the tournament, but other nations promised to withdraw if Cuba was barred. The next American team to travel to Cuba was the Tampa Bay Rays, which played an exhibition against the Cuban national team in March 2016.


1999 Baltimore Ravens season
The 1999 season was the Baltimore Ravens' fourth season in the National Football League (NFL) and the first under head coach Brian Billick. Though they missed the playoffs, they played tough against top division rival Jacksonville and trounced the eventual AFC Champion Titans to help finish the season strong with an 8–8 record.


1999 Baltimore Ravens season, Offseason, New logo
The Ravens were forced to switch their helmet logo for the 1999 season. Security guard Frederick Bouchat contended that he had created the Ravens’ logo—a “B” inside a winged shield—that had been used from 1996 through 1998. Bouchat sued the team for $10 million, and although he received no damages, a judge upheld a jury's verdict supporting the claim


1999 Baltimore Ravens season, Offseason, New logo
The team's new logo—the profile of a raven's head with the letter "B"—was voted on by 7,000 fans in a poll by The Baltimore Sun. The updated logo remains in use by the team.


1999 Baltimore mayoral election
On November 2, 1999, the city of Baltimore, Maryland, elected a new mayor, the 47th in the city's history. Primary elections were held to determine the nominees for the Democratic Party and Republican Party on September 14. Incumbent mayor Kurt Schmoke, a Democrat, opted not to run for reelection. Martin O'Malley, a member of the Baltimore City Council, won the election to succeed Schmoke.


1999 Baltimore mayoral election
Because Baltimore's electorate is overwhelmingly Democratic, it was widely believed that the city's next mayor would effectively be chosen in the Democratic primary election. Baltimore's large African American population initially made it seem likely that Schmoke would be succeeded by another African American. Former Congressman Kweisi Mfume was the preferred candidate of local politicians, but he opted not to run. Though Carl Stokes and Lawrence Bell, members of the city council, declared for the race, local leaders were underwhelmed with the quality of declared candidates.


1999 Baltimore mayoral election
In 1999, Baltimore experienced high rates of murder and unemployment, and had a failing city school system. O'Malley declared his candidacy, focusing his campaign on a "zero tolerance" approach to crime. He received endorsements from many of the city's African American leaders. After a close race, O'Malley overtook both Stokes and Bell to win the Democratic nomination, making him an overwhelming favorite in the general election. He defeated Republican candidate David F. Tufaro in the general election by an overwhelming majority.


1999 Baltimore mayoral election, Background
Kurt Schmoke, the incumbent Mayor of Baltimore, was serving his third term. He announced in December 1998 that he would not run for reelection the following year, the first time an incumbent Baltimore mayor did not run for reelection since 1971. Schmoke was the first African American mayor in Baltimore's history.