Australian Open : Closing Time

Yes, my time at the Australian Open is over and this summary has been a while coming. Life and other things have got in the way which happens to all of us except the most privileged on the planet.

Even now unsure as to how to describe my experience at the tennis year. Looking at the overall, it was mixed. There were some good moments, some disappointments and there’s always the positive part of meeting new people, sharing experiences and learning from each other.


Qualifying

One thing that has been reassured over the many years of attending the Australian Open is that the qualies are the best time to go. Yes, it’s free for the first few days but they now they’re charging for Kids Day on the Saturday which is just another money making opportunity for the organisation, more on that later.

The beauty about the qualies you get to see a great mix of players, the youngsters just starting out the tour, the ones who have had success on the Challenger Tour like young Finn Emil Ruusovori who won’t be needing to play these in the near future. The players who were top 100 previously who have dropped down whether to injuries, loss of form or a combination of both and the guys who make their living on the Challenger Tour hoping for a big break to main draw in the terms of ranking points and finances.


Is the tennis as polished as the main draw, no of course not but it’s of a high standard and considering what is on the line makes it interesting to follow. Yes, I remember a skinny 17 year old Serbian kid with a very long neck making the main draw from qualies, in addition to a fun loving Cypriot who had some rowdy fans and the charismatic Canadian who looks like Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons achieving it.

There was Bananagate which was expertly filmed from the man Alex Theodoridis from Tennisportalen. This was the entitled French clown Eliot Benchetrit who requested a ballkid to peel a banana for him. Umpire John Blom laid the smackdown on him for that request or also telling him off for being rude to ballkids.



The best match in qualies for sure was Peter Gojowczyk vs. Blaž Kavčič in relation to quality of tennis, though not the result. The best thing about the qualies, the people who are there are the ones who are definitely not gloryhounds, of course free is never a bad thing and there are gamblers there who are either punting or the smart ones doing research.

Main Draw

This is where the least enjoyable parts of the tournament come into play. The price of the ground passes has doubled in 4 years. It used to be around $30 and was fantastic value for the first 4 days as there are plenty of matches to watch. Though tennis fans aren’t exactly revolutionary, definitely couldn’t imagine fans staying away because of the price of tickets.

Tennis has always been a middle class sport at the best and totally upper class at worst. The vibe of the event has changed and not for the better. That’s the joy of progress, it’s not possible to take the best stuff and dump the rest. Every time progress happens, it creates a different set of problems and yes that includes surface homogenisation which has not been addressed. The big cheese Roger Federer acknowledged this

“Anyway, every surface is very similar today, otherwise we couldn't have achieved all these things on all these different surfaces so quickly, like him and myself”. This was said in 2012 about him and Nadal, yes this would now include Djokovic. Anyone with a functioning brain cell would be able to see this

The event has now become increasingly corporate in a blatant way. Naturally, the event is there to make money and all that filters into Tennis Australia. Yes, they have provided more shade, building a new show court which will have further increased ticket prices. I mean when there are courts that are 20 deep to get in when most of the punters don’t know who the players are, then it’s a problem.

Kudos to John Blom telling off the Greek fans who were just waiting on court 8 for Schwartzman and Davidovich Fokina to finish so they could cheer for Sakkari. He told them to go somewhere else if they weren’t interested in the match and to shut up as they were annoying everyone. To be fair the Greek fans complied.

Bogan Saturday they had over 90 000 people on the grounds. The ground passes should be crapped and most of the people who are attending main draw are there to be seen, just to say they went to the tennis and couldn’t tell you who they watched.

To finish off on a positive note. The Seppi and Millman matches are enough disappointment for a while but for very different reasons.

Cilic and Bautista Agut was the match of the tournament. I was surprised at how Cilic played, but based on that he should still have some good performances in him. Bautista Agut is an example of persistence and maximising his potential.



Alejandro Tabilo from Chile qualifying for his first main draw playing against the Colombian Galan late at night on Court 5. The atmosphere was fantastic with the Chilean and Colombian fans chanting loudly for their guys and it went the distance. Nico Massu the Davis Cup captain was there supporting Tabilo, the ecstasy on Tabilo’s face when he won the 5th set. His first ever win on the main tour, definitely could use the points and the money. The question is now can he build on that for the rest of season.

On that note thanks to Sam, Alex, Kristen, Peta, the Craven and all the other people who I interacted with who left a positive impression on me, despite the increasing issues and accessibility of the event.

Now Dominic Thiem please win the event.