From a 'party' court to new stars, Australian Open serves up plenty to savour

By Dave Worsley*

While some rookies grabbed the spotlight at the Australian Open in Melbourne, it was also a tournament in which veterans including a 43-year-old showed experience was invaluable in the doubles competition.

Fans: More than one million spectators (1,020,763 to be exact for the main draw) went through the gates of the 2024 Australian Open. Adding a day to the schedule certainly helped. It also helps with the huge amount the tournament lost financially in 2021 and with the secret A$43 million (NZ$46m) loan from the Victorian government.

However, tournament director Craig Tiley's claim that the early start would stop late night finishes, was naive and a silly thing to say. It had nothing to do with trying to stop long matches, neither did staging just two matches during the day session instead of three and charging more. Don't treat the fans as stupid. It will eventually catch up with you.

Late nights: Speeding up the mucking around starting matches promptly will help with finishing times. If matches are long, just have three questions on court. It doesn't matter if it's Nick Kygrios or anyone else doing the interviews. Keep it short and sharp, not matey-matey as it doesn't add anything. If there's time, then add something such as Daniil Medvedev explaining how he stands so far back to receive serve - informative, fun and something different.

Winners: Congratulations to Arnya Sabalenka defending her title with power over Qinwen Zheng in the final and in beating Coco Gauff in the semis. And to Jannik Sinner who came from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev in an amazing final. Credit to both players: Sinner for dropping just one set on the way to the final and beating 10-time champion Novak Djokovic and Medvedev for spending around 25 hours on court throughout the tournament. Yet you somehow had to feel sorry for the Russian.

New Zealanders: Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell lost their respective doubles early and then Venus with Indonesian Aldila Sutjiadi beat Erin Routliffe and her American doubles partner. The big result was Routliffe combining with Canadian Gaby Dabrowski to reach the semifinals of the women's doubles. It was a result justifying their fourth seeding and backing up their US Open title. Routliffe will rise to No 6 in the world rankings.

Layout: The Australian Open has found its best layout. The kids' area on the way in along the riverside - and it's superb. Mainly bar and food areas in the Oval between Rod Laver and John Cain Arena, a swingball and table tennis feature around the venue as well as cooling stations, more food and then the slightly awkward at times bar overhanging court 6 - time will tell on this concept. It's A$12.80 for a Peroni and there's quite a wide variety of food around the grounds, sometimes in the not-so-obvious places.

Innovations: The new 'party' court. which is a bar overhanging court six to create atmosphere worked at times. Other times at 4pm onwards on a warm day it was messy, but at least something was tried. As was letting patrons into the main courts not just at the change of ends. Again a good initiative so that paying customers don't spend ages waiting to get back to their seats.

Stars on the rise: Zheng was seeded 12th, but really hit the big time. Watch out for the French men. There's plenty of talent to choose from, Arthur Cazaux made the fourth round in the men's while Oceane Dodin, the slightly eccentric in her style of play and attitude on court, reached the women's last 16.

But keep an eye on Mirra Andreeva who at just 16 and 20-year-old Maria Timofeeva, both from Russia, made the fourth round. Czech Linda Noskova was the other women's player who made an impact.

Weather: Only a couple of warm days during the tournament which featured a little bit of rain and cold evenings as well as plenty of wind.

Veterans show value: Forty-three-year-old Rohan Bopanna of India won the men's doubles title with Australia's Matt Ebden. Bopanna also became the new world No 1. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh Su-wei from Chinese Taipei and Elise Mertens (Belgium) won the women's doubles. It was Su-wei's seventh Grand Slam title. She also won the mixed with Poland's Jan Zielinski as well.

The other court: The confirmation of the court case against Alexander Zverev for domestic abuse cast a shadow over the event. When the Australian Open posted any social media featuring the German sixth seed, the backlash was intense. ATP players were asked their thoughts on having Zverev elected on to the player board. Every response was similar, that they didn't know much about it and didn't want to talk about it. Iga Swiatek was more forthcoming. "I think it's up to (the) ATP what they decide. For sure. it's not good when a player who's facing charges like that is kind of being promoted."

* Tennis journalist Dave Worsley has been covering the Australian Open for 25 years and is an RNZ contributor.