Australian Open enjoys record crowds before tournament has even begun
Australian Open organisers are toasting record crowds before the Grand Slam has properly begun after a near four-fold year-on-year increase in attendance on the first day of play at Melbourne Park.
More than 29,000 tennis fans poured through the gates on Monday to catch players including home favourite Bernard Tomic and Brit Dan Evans in the opening matches of qualifying for the main draw, which is due to begin on Sunday.
Tennis Australia has reaped the rewards of marketing the qualifying rounds as the first week of the tournament and offering incentives to attend, such as free entry for children, live music from acts like Hot Chip and the $1m One Point Slam.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s the first day of qualifiers, it feels in many ways like it’s the first day of the event,” said Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley. “But this is the first day of 21 days of activity, entertainment, sport.”
While crowds for opening week topped 100,000 for the first time in 2025, organisers expect the number to double or even triple this year and hope to hit half a million in future editions.
Among the attractions are an opening ceremony on Saturday which will be attended by Roger Federer and the One Point Slam, which offers amateurs the chance to take on top players and celebrities for a chance to win A$1m.
The Australian Open has been quick to innovate, but its opening week push comes after the US Open last year brought forward its mixed doubles event to the days before the main draw and controversially engineered all-star pairings.
Heat has been a common problem at the Australian Open but chiefs have taken steps to mitigate the threat by creating more shaded areas and hope to boost capacity by lowering some of Melbourne Park’s outside courts.
“The priority is to keep growing the event,” Tiley said. “The sink courts idea I gave, that’s just an idea, but generally when we throw out ideas out there, they sort of become reality, we want people to think about them that way.”