AO to attract over 900,000 spectators and massive profit state coffers

Australian Open (AO) is a Grand Slam tennis event played for the Australian and Australasian title. It is one of the two major sporting events held in the southern hemisphere since 1905 and one of the four Grand Slam events of global tennis since 1987 staged in Melbourne. Origin of the event dates back to 1905. At present, this flagship of tennis is the responsibility of Craig Tiley.

From the very outset, the event took the responsibilities to sustain the global popularity and overcome the hazards. Heat is the biggest hazard. Its impact can decide the fate of the event, performances of the players and the spectator attendance. A summer event, with a cut off temperature for outdoor matches, around 40 degrees centigrade, a level for cooking.

Craig Tiley – the Director

Tiley is a South African player with high-end profile, graduated in South Africa in Kinesiology and economics. He was a successful coach in US College Tennis and incharge of player development in Australia from 2005. He moved up in 2013 to be the Director of Tennis Australia. He is 51.

Tiley’s position is tough. Parameters by which his performance judged are severe and very public at all times. Having experienced his coaching presentation more than once, I found his logic removed all complexities and simplified the learning curve, even to the professional players. With Covid from 2020, spectator attendance dropped to 400,000 and the deportation of Novak Djokovic placed Tiley in a bad position to continue. There was backlash and many wanted him out. His 2023 performance silenced his critics.

The AO event

Australian Open since inception and after achieving the status of Australian Open in 1927, staged in five Australian cities and in two cities of New Zealand. They are Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Christchurch and Hastings. The event is currently conducted by the Victoria State Government. The state annually benefits to the tune of 2.7 billion dollars boost to their economy and the coffer directly to the tune of around 380 million Australian dollars. In 2023, Tiley delivered it increasing to half of a billion Australian dollars. What more, the event had no sign of going through Covid curse and gave away 76 million Australian dollars as prize money.

Tiley, as the director of Tennis – Australia, makes him to be the Director of Australian Open event. Tiley’s 2023 record is impressive. For the first time AO topped the attendance to 902,000 spectators in 2023, highest of all four tennis

Grand Slam events in the world. His team is his asset. He came under severe pressure with the Djokovic deportation. The accusation was that he did not do enough. I believe he took the stand of ‘law is law’ even if the person is an AO winner. Australia legal system was firm. Craig bounced back in 2023. He is a team player but will take the blame personally, carry the responsibility and deliver, a noteworthy man.

Players list for 2024 AO

Some absentees of WTA players will appear again. Raducanu is in action, Osaka, Kerber and few others will surface in this year’s event, which starts on January 14. Current Top 10 will be in the draw unless withdrawn with injuries. All Grand Slam events are compulsory to players of both gender.

Swiatek, Sabalenka, Rybakina, Gauff, Pegula and Jabeur are top six of the WTA ranking. In the WTA Top 50 of the ranking, a good few can topple Top 10 players.

Men’s ATP top six are Djokovic, Alcaraz, Medvedev, Sinner, Rublev, Zverev. ATP had five events in January of 2024. These players were the prominent last year. Alcaraz became a Grand Slam winner in 2023 and Sinner beat the big names comfortably towards the end of the year.

AO Arena and Surface

In Australia, summer heat is an issue. Heat has tremendous effect on the playing surface. Australian Open in 1905 stated on grass courts. Grass not being easy to maintain, a good few synthetic surfaces tried. Grass deteriorates badly leaving large patches of uneven surface by the time event reaches the third round. Even now, six of the 39 courts in Melbourne Park are grass.

During the surface tryout time, many players had ankle twisted. Currently AO uses ‘Greenset’. Some previous surfaces, the surface absorbed the heat and retained it. They would burn the skin if touched. ‘Greenset’ is the surface now and used by many events round the world.

Melbourne Park has three covered courts -- Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena. If it rains or heat gets up outdoor courts are not used. Without doubt, AO will be a close contest. A win here will etch names for eternity.

--George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; coach German Tennis Federation; National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup coach, coached ATP, WTA and ITF ranked players in Europe and Asia; WhatsApp +94775448880-