Festival vibes and a riot of colour normally grace the opening day of the first grand slam of the season. Not this year. Against a backdrop of leaden skies and Covid protocols the atmosphere at the Australian Open was torpid. Tournament organisers have jumped through hoops to assemble an elaborate firework display, but providing a spark is beyond their control.
Pandemic management has trimmed the crowd to less than half its usual size, which was always going to have an impact. What dawned on Monday was the vibrancy of the missing cohort. As event organisers trumpeted last August: “Of the record-breaking 812,174 attendees in 2020, 54% were from beyond Melbourne with 13%from overseas.” Travel restrictions make similar diversity unrealistic this time around.
Compounding the effect, ticket holders are herded into one of three walled zones. This inability to flow throughout the grounds robbed the day of its buzz. There was no chance to turn a corner amongst the outside courts and stumble into a knot of noisy tourists, or follow your ears to a nail-biting contest out in the boondocks. There was an absence of picnickers on the grassed banks, fewer sponsor activations, and little added entertainment in the ordinarily bustling precinct.
In its place the ambient noise of inner Melbourne travelled uninterrupted, most notably the clackety-clack of commuter trains on their approach to nearby Flinders Street Station. Event noise was also unmuffled by patrons. Helicopters murmured overhead, sneakers screeched on the blue cushion acrylic hard courts, and the line calls – this year pre-recorded by a selection of Australian “community heroes” – could be heard clearly.
Stripped of ephemera, the grand slam experience was distilled to the actual tennis – no bad thing – with matches of varying quality and profile knitted together across a patchwork of courts. A scan of the early clashes revealed Australian Kimberly Birrell in action on Court 7. Typically this would be the kind of match that would draw a partisan crowd that a local outsider could harness. Not today. In front of barely a dozen onlookers the wildcard’s opening shot dinged off the frame of her racket. She was #bundledout in straight sets by Canadian Rebecca Marino, victorious at a slam for the first time since June 2011.
There were bigger crowds watching No 1 seed Ash Barty practice, and when the Yarra Valley Classic champion was replaced by Rafael Nadal testing out his dodgy back it was standing room only beside Court 11. Here the whirr of expensive cameras was only interrupted by the occasional thud from the wall of the court opposite where 6ft 11in Reilly Opelka thundered down 18 aces in his comfortable victory over Taiwanese veteran Lu Yen-hsun. Players have spoken of faster courts this year, possibly opening the door to one of the tour’s serving behemoths like Opelka, or Milos Raonic, who sailed through unbroken.
Crowds were thicker in the stadium courts to witness the regal progress of contenders Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams. They also clustered around 10th seed Gael Monfils. His entourage included partner, and women’s fifth seed Elina Svitolina, but they could not prevent the entertaining Frenchman becoming one of the day’s biggest upsets, succumbing in five sets to promising Finn Emil Ruusuvuori.
John Millman was another to suffer the agony of defeat after nearly four hours on court. He lost in five to France’s Corentin Moutet despite the lesser-spotted cries of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” from the stands.
Those fans that were in attendance seemed unconcerned by any risks to their personal safety posed by Covid-19, despite two separate cases of community transmission in Victoria in recent days, one of which featuring a member of staff at a hotel used by hundreds of tournament players and officials.
David, from Melbourne’s west, was the first ticket-holder through the City entrance when the gates opened at 9.45am. “I’ve got my mask on, and we’ll socially distance,” he told the Guardian. “We’re here to watch the tennis and have a good day out.” Other patrons responded similarly, with the only recurring criticism the restrictions on movement.
Self-selection has to be acknowledged – fans paying to visit the tournament would, by definition, be unlikely to be perturbed by the risk to public health – but security and hospitality staff also registered their ease with their working environment, albeit cognisant of the risks involved. Victorians will not forget the hardship of lockdown in a hurry.
But considering the negative attention (much of it justified) hosting the Open has attracted, the first of 14 heavily scrutinised days passed without major incident. The sun is forecast to shine brightly on Tuesday, and burn down on days three and four. Perhaps the event will recapture some familiarity then? Or perhaps a reasonably attended, efficient tennis tournament is as much as can be expected in the circumstances. The festival can wait.
