The Australian Open of tenniswhich ended last Sunday with the victory of the Serbian Novak Djokovic“shattered” the attendance record by exceeding 900,000 fans during the three weeks of the tournament, organizers said Tuesday.
“We not only broke his (previous) record, we pretty much smashed it,” said Craig Tiley, head of the Australian tennis federation and organizer of the australian open to the daily The Age.
According to Tiley, from January 9 – when the qualifying matches began – until the 29th, 902,312 fans attended the Melbourne Park venue, where the first of the four Grand Slams of the season is played.
historical figures
During the two main weeks of the tournament, between days 16 and 29, attendance reached 839,192 people, data that exceeds the mark of 812,174 reached in January 2020, prior to the tournament that was held with restrictions during the pandemic.
The organizer also pointed out that on Saturday the 21st, during the third round matches, 94,854 spectators were reached, above the 93,709 of the previous record.
The attendance data australian open exceed the figures of other major tournaments such as Wimbledon (515,164 people in 2022), Roland Garros (613,000 attendees in 2022) and the US Open (776,000 fans in 2022) -during the two main weeks of competition-.
“People want to have a little fun, and tennis is an excellent option for them,” said Tiley, who expects to reach one million fans next year. (EFE)
