Australian Open boss Craig Tiley isn’t ruling out an unprecedented Saturday start to the Melbourne Park major after fans flocked to the season-opening grand slam in record numbers.
More than 1.1 million spectators attended the 2025 Open, smashing the crowd record and generating huge money for Tennis Australia and the Victorian government.
Despite boorish crowd behaviour tarnishing the tournament’s reputation somewhat, Tiley has revealed organisers will consider extending the event to 16 days in future.
The Open moved to a Sunday start in 2024, and beginning on a Saturday would give the billion-dollar extravaganza three full weekends of main-draw action, further feeding the cash cow that is the biggest show on the annual Australian sporting calendar.
“We wouldn’t do anything without thinking carefully about what impact it has on the players and the fans, but there’s just an insatiable desire in Australia for more people to watch tennis,” Tiley told AAP at Melbourne Park.
“I mean, we’re having growth. We’re having more kids play the game, more people join clubs, more adults play the game.
“More racquets and balls have been sold than ever before.
“So we’re going through a bit of a boom in the sport and more people are paying to get a ticket to come through the gate.
“So we are doing that.”
With 11am starts and early-morning finishes, the Australian Open is fast following the US Open in New York as the grand slam that never sleeps.
Now, with the Open qualifying tournament and exhibition matches being staged a week before, it seems the AO may become the grand slam that never stops.
“We’re going after a fan experience and we want to give our fans more,” Tiley said after dismissing concerns about some fans spoiling the tournament’s reputation as the “Happy Slam”.
The booing of Novak Djokovic after the 10-time champion’s injury-enforced withdrawal from his semi-final against Alexander Zverev, and foul-mouthed taunts towards Danielle Collins during the former women’s finalist’s second-round win over Australian Destanee Aiava were among the regrettable episodes.
“There’s always going to be one or two people that make it unpleasant for others. That’s human behaviour,” Tiley said.
“I’m not worried about the crowd behaviour. We’ve had record numbers coming through the gate.
“The majority – 99.9 per cent of fans – have been well behaved.
“I want to look more at the number of fans who come through the gate and the energy and the enjoyment that they’re having is at an all-time high.
“So we’re not going to design an event where we’re going to keep people silent, because then the next question is going to be, ‘Why aren’t people enjoying it?'”
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