The secret is out: how Australian Open helped usher in three-week slam festivals | Australian Open
Dn the first days of the U.S. Open singles main draw last year, tournament director Stacey Allaster held court with a small group of journalists in a suite overlooking Arthur Ashe Stadium. Much of the discussion centered around the revamped mixed doubles tournament, which had dominated tennis discourse for days. With a smile, Allaster explained the amount of work that had gone into the event and cited the final number of attendees for the week it took place. The US Open, she said, now lasts three weeks.
For many years, the traditional fortnight of the Grand Slam was preceded by a week of preparation. While the lowest ranked players quietly carried out the draw in front of vacant stands, the best players completed their preparation with great fanfare. Access to tournament grounds at the Australian Open, French Open and US Open was free for qualifying. However, few people came. For most die-hard fans, Grand Slam qualifying was an oasis for tennis hipsters, the sport’s best-kept secret.
The secret is revealed. Over the past decade, Grand Slam players have gradually realized the great potential of their qualifying weeks and transformed them into true extensions of the tournament. These initiatives have been led by the Australian Open and US Open, which sometimes seem to be in the middle of an arms race to construct the most spectacular preparation week possible.
While the US Open called its qualifying week “Fan Week”, the Australian Open opted for “Opening Week”. The concepts are very similar, attempting to attract tens of thousands of new spectators, lured by the promise of seeing top players practice and other professionals compete for a fraction of the price of admission to the following two weeks. A court entry ticket for the opening week of the Australian Open is good value at A$20 (£10), but at the US Open, entry to the tournament grounds during Fan Week is free.
Every day at the Australian Open this week, tournament organizers have posted comically high attendance records, with tens of thousands of spectators passing through the gates of Melbourne Park each day. On Monday, the attendance of 29,261 eviscerated the previous record of 7,543 and on Thursday the figure was 35,805, with a total attendance of 136,248 in the first four days. Some have argued that Tennis Australia’s marketing has actually been too good, with a number of spectators complaining on social media after arriving on court this week hoping to catch the main draw matches.
Nowadays, the event is more like a festival than a tennis tournament. The Grand Slam Oval, a large separate area filled with dining venues and hundreds of seats, is located at the southern tip of the field. The oval is built to accommodate the masses of spectators who will enter the field once the main draw begins, but even on a Tuesday afternoon in Melbourne the seats are about 70 per cent full. A stage sits in the center and hosts a variety of trivia games, musical performances and player appearances.
Beyond the exorbitant prices of food and drinks, these weeks also have a positive purpose. They provide a platform to stimulate popular participation, with several mini tennis courts around the grounds and a children’s tennis day on Saturdays. Outside John Cain Arena, hundreds of parents queued each day to receive free rackets as part of Tennis Australia’s effort to distribute 5,000 in total.
In open day practices this week, only the lower half of the 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena is open to spectators, but Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have filled the entire second half of the bowl. Other tennis events include full ticketed exhibition matches, the Red Bull Bassline Exhibition Tournament and an inaugural opening ceremony featuring Roger Federer. On Thursday, there was the One Point Slam, which kicked off with great fanfare the Australian Open’s answer to the reinvented US Open mixed doubles event.
Even though Roland-Garros has not developed its opening week as spectacularly as the two hard-court Grand Slam tournaments and its tickets are more expensive, it nevertheless remains attended by a significant number of spectators. One of the most memorable moments of the 2024 season was the deafening cheers from a packed Court Suzanne Lenglen, the second largest stadium at Roland Garros, as Dominic Thiem played his final match in Paris.
As the festivities continue in Melbourne, the latest chapter in Wimbledon’s long-running legal battle over the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s Wimbledon Park project, its statutory trust claim trial, is playing out in the High Court. This seems appropriate. Attempts by the AELTC to convert the private golf course across the road into an extension of the club, which would allow Wimbledon to stage its qualifying event on site, have been mired by various legal challenges. The proposals include converting part of the private space into a public park, as well as 38 new grass courts and a new performance field.
As other Grand Slam tournaments continue to grow at a spectacular pace, Wimbledon, which once dominated all others, is left behind. The qualifying tournament takes place mainly on a basic pitch in Roehampton. Between its relatively cramped courts and the delicate nature of the turf surface – meaning it would be inadvisable to host pre-tournament events on Center Court or No. 1 Court – the All England Club’s current facilities are simply not compatible with the initiatives demonstrated at other major tournaments. Wimbledon is the final two-week Grand Slam tournament.
