Record attendance reported at Australian Open, breaks Grand Slam record
Australian Open 2023
Setting a Grand Slam attendance record, the Australian Open 2023 saw more than 900,000 spectators flocking to Melbourne Park for the better part of the last three weeks, despite several big-ticket players missing.
According to figures released, 839,192 fanswatched the opening Grand Slam of the year between January 16-29. Additionally, over 60,000 also watched the qualifiers that began before the start of the tournament, thereby bringing the total to902,312.
The 2023 numbers defeated the pre-Covid era record of 812,174 set in January 2020. It also eclipsed the attendance numbers of other Grand Slams from last year. While 776,120 visited the US Open, 613,500 and 515,164 visited French Open and Wimbledon respectively.
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This year's tournament also broke the single-day attendance record with 94,854 visiting on January 21, compared to 93,709 set in 2020.
With big players such as Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Ashleigh Barty, Carlos Alcaraz, Nick Kyrgios, Venus Williams and Simona Halep amongst others not playing or having retired -aspersions were cast on whether the tournament organisers would be able to successfully host the Grand Slam with a decent footfall.
Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley reflected on the same and said people just wanted to be entertained.
"It was reported that we didn't have the greats any more, that it was going to be terrible. But people just want to be entertained,"Tiley told the Melbourne Age.
"They want to have some fun, and tennis is a great option for them, and it's become a summer thing to do for Melburnians and for Australians and also for our guests from around the world."
Though the Russia and Belarusian flag controversy threatened to sour the atmosphere in the stadiums, the numbers suggested that it had little to no effect.
Novak Djokovic won his 10th Australian Open title in the men's singles category while Aryna Sabalenka won her maiden Grand Slam in the women's singles.
(With inputs from agencies)
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