The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
While the rest of us are clinging on desperately to New Year’s resolutions, the top of the tennis world will be assembling in Melbourne on January 16th for the 2023 Australian Open. It’s not quite the first tourney of the year – that honor falls to the Maharashtra Open in India on the 2nd, but it marks the return of Grand Slam season.
Not that it furnishes a gentle breaking in to elite competition – January in Victoria gets hot. In 2014, games were halted and nine players withdrew from first round matches as spectators baked in the stands at 44C (111F) temperatures while on-court mercury reportedly tipped 50C (122F). If you’re wondering why players and fans would put themselves through this, read on to see what makes Melbourne Park such a hot favorite of both.
The home crowd has had a long affection for the Australian Open. When the Open era began in 1968, they were used to cheering their own champions. Australians took six of the first eight mens’ titles, including double triumphs for Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe. On the ladies side, Virginia Wade was the only overseas player to win any of the first eleven (1973, when she also took the US and French Opens, only missing out on Wimbledon), as Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong fought off the likes of Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. For the last 15 years, the men’s title has been the preserve of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, with only Stan Wawrinka butting in to take it in 2014. The ladies’ title found its way back into Aussie hands for the first time since 1978 when Ashleigh Barty lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in January 2022.
The 2023 ladies’ field will be the most open in a long time. Current ladies’ champion Ash Barty retired from tennis in March 2022, and the record holding seven-time winner Serena Williams followed suit after the US Open that September. Perhaps unfairly dubbed a clay court specialist, world number one Iga Swiatek has improved enough on hard court that she needs to be taken seriously.
Local eyes will be focused on Ajla Tomlanovic – the young Aussie beat Serena in her final match – the eyes of the world’s media (and a celebrity-starred crowd) didn’t phase her, proving her big occasion temperament. Reuters reports she harnessed Williams’ own technique of only ever thinking about the next point to guide her through the biggest match of the year.
Men’s tennis is still processing the retirement of Roger Federer at the end of the 2022 season. While it couldn’t be called a shock – he hadn’t played since Wimbledon 2021 – it will mark the end of a modern era going into a Grand Slam missing one of the ‘big three’. That is, of course, unless we’re missing two. Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia in 2022 after refusing to be vaccinated for Covid. However, Australia dropped the vaccine requirement in July 2022, and the way should be clear for Djokovic to be granted a visa. Market makers have reacted accordingly and Djokovic has been listed as the clear favorite to win, according to the tennis odds at Coral. Should the Serb not feature – by way of immigration or injury – the newly crowned US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz could be ready to pounce. Also, Nick Kyrgios will be roared on by a partisan home crowd.
Over 800,000 fans attend the Australian Open every year. The retractable roof-enabled Rod Laver Arena has capacity for 14,800, so while big match tickets may be highly prized, they’re not unattainable. Melbourne itself is a cosmopolitan state capital of 5m people, ranked ‘world’s most livable city‘ by the Economist Intelligence Unit for a straight seven years between 2011-2017. Tourism on Australia’s south coast is a little less white-knuckle than the jungle and Great Barrier Reef of the north. Melbs (as it’s known) makes a great base for touring Yarra Valley vineyards, hanging with the penguins on Phillip Island and taking in the dramatic Pacific landscapes of the Great Ocean Road.
For those looking to start 2023 with a bounce, the Australian Open may provide a thrilling trip. Maybe the resolutions can be put on hiatus til February. April’s a good month…
