And the crowd goes silent
Tournament becomes quiet as hard lockdown keeps fans away
MELBOURNE, Australia — Inside an empty Rod Laver Arena, the fluttering of a photographer’s camera suddenly seemed all too distracting before a player served.
Other sounds not normally heard also felt amplified: the creaking of electronic sunshades rising into position on changeovers, the pitter-patter of the ball kids’ shoes.
Terrific rallies were greeted with the lonely claps of a coach and physio. The cries of the new electronic line-calling system suddenly felt unnecessarily loud and obtrusive.
Crowds were gone from the Australian Open on Saturday because of a five-day hard lockdown imposed by the state government to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 cases. And with the lack of fans, players were faced with an all-too-familiar feeling: a distinct lack of buzz.
The first five days of the tournament felt completely different — like a return to pre-pandemic Grand Slam tennis. Sizeable crowds were allowed for the first time in a year, and although attendance was well below previous years, it didn’t seem to matter. The grounds felt alive.
Nowhere was this more apparent than in John Cain Arena during local favorite Nick Kyrgios’ third-round match against Dominic Thiem on Friday night.
A raucous crowd made the most of what could be one of the last matches with fans at the tournament — they roared for Kyrgios’ winners, groaned with each of his mistakes and pounded the backs of their chairs in unison.
There were some less decorous crowd moments, as well. Rafael Nadal was heckled by a woman who yelled and waved her middle finger as the 20-time major winner prepared to serve in his secondround win over Michael Mmoh. He laughed it off, saying maybe she had “too much gin or tequila.”
The COVID-19 outbreak linked to Melbourne’s hotel quarantine system brought this festive atmosphere to a halt. The Australian Open was allowed to continue during the lockdown — but without fans.
Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina described the dramatic shift from playing in front of crowds to suddenly being faced with empty arenas again as “disturbing” and “in some ways sad.”
“I tried to convince myself that it’s a Grand Slam and that we are playing an important match,” she said after her third-round win over Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.
In some ways, the grounds had the feel of being closed up for the winter. The shutters were drawn on all the food and beverage stands, where just hours earlier, fans were lining up for top-ups on their beers during Novak Djokovic’s thrilling fiveset win over Taylor Fritz.
A television had been left on at a promo stand for the Rafa Nadal Academy, filling an empty corridor at Rod Laver Arena with the sounds of young players training to a soundtrack of rock music.
Many doors in the arena were locked and the only people in sight were masked police officers and cleaners.
Making the whole scene even stranger was the fact that another women’s tournament had also begun Saturday for players who lost early in the Australian Open. It was difficult to tell whether the Grand Slam event was still happening — and who was playing in it.
Though some tournaments have allowed limited numbers of fans over the past year, players have more or less grown accustomed to playing in front of silent stands.