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The Australian Open is at risk of becoming a victim of its own success
Pat Hornidge
Roar Guru
19th January, 2018
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Margare Court Arena during the 2017 Australian Open (Wikimedia Commons/DestinationAlan)
Pat Hornidge
Roar Guru
19th January, 2018
1

There’ll be another record crowd at the Australian Open this year – a crowd well in excess of 750,000 if predictions are to be trusted.

This is up from fewer than 300,000 when the tournament first moved to Melbourne Park and up more than 100,000 on the numbers from just ten years ago.

This success has been seen as overwhelmingly positive, and it is certainly an endorsement for the direction the tournament is going, but with such numbers of people there is a risk that the tournament will become too popular, too overcrowded.

For example, while the off-court facilities have certainly improved recently, very few improvements have been made to the courts themselves.

I don’t want to go on a nostalgia kick here saying everything was better back in the ‘good old days’ of the late 1990s and early 2000s because that’s not the point I wish to make. As I said, nearly everything has improved at the Open for patrons and fans – more activities, better food, better facilities, easy access to each area and, despite the thousands of people, there is barely a wait for food and seating can be found easily.

(Wikimedia Commons/DestinationAlan)

The tournament is obviously doing a lot right to continue break attendance records even without some big names competing this year. The greatest achievement recently, though, has of course been the redevelopment of Margaret Court Arena. It has a terrific atmosphere, there is barely a bad seat and tickets for its cheapest seats are only slightly more expensive than a ground pass. It’s certainly worth the price of admission, because a ground pass doesn’t seem to get you as much in terms of tennis action as it used to.

A ground pass to the Australian Open used to get you into every court except Rod Laver Arena. It’s now changed to every court except Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena. In theory this still gives you access to matches between high-quality players, especially on Hisense Arena and the two show courts.

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But in practice, due to the extremely high numbers of people now at the tournament each day, all these courts are full by the time play gets underway, meaning that if you’re interested in seeing the third match on a court, you better have seats and be prepared to save them by the time the first match starts.

On Tuesday the queues to show court two were as long as I’ve seen them, and by around 1 o’clock the lines at Hisense Arena were out the door and almost stretched to the outside courts. The new temporary stands in place around the outside courts certainly provide more seating, but this is still mostly filled throughout the day. It seems that there are simply not enough seats for the numbers of people that are now attending.

(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

The next redevelopment seems to take this into account, with the building of a new show court between Rod Laver and Hisense arenas and the construction of new outside courts on the western side of show court two. Certainly the new show court is needed, but its placement – right where the eastern courts are now – risks creating a new problem.

The outside courts are the heart of the experience of actually going to the Open for a lot of people, so to demolish these risks completely changing the experience. Despite the crowds, there are still great matches to be seen on the back courts. On Tuesday a walk around the back courts revealed former world number 21 (and current number 48) Steve Johnston playing in front of a tiny crowd as well as Frenchmen Gaël Monfils and Richard Gasquet still accessible in front of bigger crowds.

So what is to be done? Certainly more seating is needed at both show courts, although this would require a major redevelopment of the precinct, and the new court that is being constructed is extremely necessary aside from it being situated in the wrong place. This should allow for the current seating at the outside courts to be maintained, which in turn should maintain their unique atmosphere. I was thinking about the virtues of a cap on crowds, but I do not think this is desirable for a number of reasons.

The Australian Open will continue to be one of the premier international events on the Victorian calendar, but if it keeps growing as it has done in the recent past, there is a risk that it might outgrow its current home. So just as the off-court experiences have improved, the facilities at the courts themselves must also keep pace. It is, above all else, a tennis tournament.

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