MELBOURNE, Australia — The primary spherical of the Australian Open continues to be days away and the draw has but to be introduced, so we do not know who will play who, however the Australian Open is already in full swing, with greater than 100,000 followers already via the gates.
The Grand Slam is historically a “two-week occasion”, beginning for most people with first-round matches on Sunday or Monday and ending two weeks later with the ladies’s and males’s finals in entrance of a packed stadium.
However a quiet revolution is sweeping Melbourne Park. Event director Craig Tiley has made no secret of his dedication to creating the Australian Open, often known as the Comfortable Slam, a well-liked match amongst gamers and followers alike.
And organizing media-only occasions, reminiscent of seedings and raffles that might usually happen off-Broadway, as a part of an expanded “opening week,” is a giant transfer that is already paying off.
Over the three days of opening week, from Monday to Wednesday, 100,443 followers flocked to the gates of Melbourne Park. It was busy. There are queues at meals shops and crowded trams. Final 12 months’s three-day Australian Open had its highest attendance ever? 47,095 individuals attended, lower than half of it.
However this isn’t only a stroke of luck for Tyree and others, however slightly a calculated effort to get extra individuals into the match and be sure that the Australian Open stays a individuals’s match.
All ads for the match featured January twelfth as the beginning date. The phrases opening week had been plastered all over the place, though their that means was maybe ambiguous (spherical 1 or qualifying?). There was additionally a giant transfer to convey tennis gamers, music acts, eateries and different celebrities to Melbourne Park early on to enhance the product and environment.
Let’s check out Wednesday night time’s “1 Level Slam.” Easy premise. A gaggle of execs together with Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will compete towards native celebrities and novice Australians for a prize of AU$1 million (US$668,000). Earn 1 level and transfer on. There aren’t any second probabilities. Excessive-quality drama, high-quality leisure.
Final 12 months, it was a daytime occasion held on a a lot smaller courtroom at Kia Area (which may seat 5,000 individuals when full) and was not televised worldwide. This 12 months, Tyree pushed the tune into prime time in entrance of a sold-out Rod Laver Area crowd of 14,000, guaranteeing it was heard around the globe.
And everybody agreed. Tensions had been excessive between the qualifiers, who didn’t have the posh of hitting a second serve, and the professionals. In the event that they served a fault, they had been out. This made the “second serve” motion softer, permitting amateurs to take part within the contest. Who would serve and who would obtain was decided by the age-old traditional sport of rock, paper, scissors.
The concept was so attention-grabbing that social media went loopy with tennis followers eager to know extra. I will probably be competing in Melbourne subsequent 12 months and different competitions as properly. Even top-ranked professionals had ranges of FOMO.
I am really watching it on TV proper now and I am all for not taking part in One Level Slam, this appears to be like like quite a lot of enjoyable 😂
— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) January 14, 2026
And, much more satisfying for all concerned, novice New South Wales participant Jordan Smith gained the Australian Open, defeating two-time Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner (who misplaced because of an error) and world No. 1 Amanda Anisimova within the closing. Within the closing, Joanna Garland, ranked 117th (and certified for the 1-point Slam), gained.
The occasion was entertaining, even when it dragged on a bit with an excessive amount of advert time (however they paid for it), however the concept is nice sufficient and can proceed to develop.
Extra to return. Roger Federer will as soon as once more grace Rod Laver Area on the first “Opening Ceremony” on Saturday night time, the night time earlier than the primary occasion begins. He’ll be a part of former rival Andre Agassi and Australian greats Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt within the ‘battle of world No. 1s’.
Tiley has additionally invested closely in tennis-adjacent leisure elsewhere this week. World-class musical artists are booked to carry out at inexpensive charges inside the precinct throughout often quiet, quiet hours. British pop group Scorching Chip, DJ Elderbrook, legendary Australian digital act The Presets and extra are performing to get followers within the door.
The grounds of Melbourne Park have additionally been redeveloped. Extra inexperienced house, extra shade, extra bars, extra locations to eat, extra issues to do and see. You could be completely satisfied strolling round all day and never seeing a ball being hit.
Influencers and content material creators have labored onerous to advertise Open Sponsorship’s credentials and showcase the handfuls of distinctive and unique eateries dotted across the property. The primary attraction is American burger large Shake Shack, which debuted beneath as the primary conference pop-up this 12 months. Social media is filled with content material, however not even the primary draw ball has been hit.
However whereas that is all optimistic for Tennis Australia and Tiley, there’s additionally room for a wholesome dose of skepticism. The coining of the qualifying week as “opening week” has brought about some angst from some followers, with some feeling that the week has been misrepresented.
On TikTok, one fan described the act as “very misleading.” One other official mentioned there was “no indication” that the opening week was referring to qualifying, and one other mentioned it “ought to have been clearer” that it was not foremost draw motion.
Nonetheless, this may increasingly simply be a small pattern dimension and the numbers are indeniable. Of those, 100,443 circumstances.
Having greater than double the variety of followers in attendance throughout the first three days of opening week in comparison with 2025 is undoubtedly an enormous success for Australian Tennis and reveals how a lot could be achieved with innovation, high quality leisure, infrastructure, funding in hospitality and maybe just a little clouding in advertising.
The Australian Open is really an enormous match. A world class occasion. A large, residing, respiration monster that continues to fulfill the suitable circumstances.
