Another day, another record crowd at Melbourne Park.
Day 4 of the main draw, Wednesday 21 January, saw a combined day/night session attendance of 103,720 fans pour through the Australian Open gates, the third new full-day crowd record set in the first four days of the 2026 tournament.
On the surface this is all fantastic news, growth is the lifeblood of any sporting or cultural event.
But as any business owner will tell you, the intoxicating allure of rapid growth is often also accompanied by the inconvenient discomfort of growing pains that, left unmitigated, have the potential to undermine any short-term commercial success and lead to deep, long-term problems.
Week one at the Australian Open bears some of these worrying hallmarks.
While smiling organisers continue to spruik record crowds, commercial innovations and new tournament benchmarks on a daily basis, and talk even begins to emerge of how to commandeer nearby AAMI Park in future years, there is an equally steady swell in murmurs of discontent around the Aussie Grand Slam.
From fans and media onsite at Melbourne Park, to others commenting from afar, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley and his team would do well not to ignore these concerns or brush over the reality of the real-world AO experience in 2026.
‘Overcrowding is a serious issue’
Food is expensive, seats are scarce, the crowds and queues are huge, influencers are everywhere, yet opportunities for everyday fans with ground passes appear to be rapidly shrinking—and as a result the proudly egalitarian nature of the Australian Open appears to be under some threat.
“Overcrowding is a serious issue if you are attending this Australian Open as a tennis fan who wants to watch tennis,” observed respected American tennis journalist Ben Rothenburg, a regular visitor to Melbourne Park.
“The Australian Open, once the Happy Slam now feels more like influencer central with courtside seats reserved for celebrities and corporate wallets,” commented Australian marketing professional Mikaela Maree Whitton on X.
There are many more examples, but you get the drift.
Speaking from personal experience, this all seems a very different ‘vibe’ to just over a decade ago when I first attended Melbourne Park in the first week and recall thinking how relaxed it all was, even compared to Wimbledon which I also attended with ground pass access back in my younger years—once standing for five hours in a winding yet jovial queue through Wimbledon Common, the English do love a queue.
Fast forward back to 2026 and change doesn’t have to be a bad thing, of course. Far from it.
But as with every bell curve, there comes a point when things naturally start to slip a little. The gloss wears off. The lustre fades. The grumbles grow.
Ambition is the fuel of progress. But it can also ignite into a raging dumpster fire if you’re not careful.
How big is too big?
How commercial is too commercial?
How many brand activations and influencers are too many?
How many fans through the gates each day is enough?
In assessing the Australian Open’s voracious appetite for growth, there seems to be two distinctly different camps—the ‘bigger must be better’ camp, and the ‘bring back the old days’ camp.
The answer almost certainly lies somewhere between the two.
Question is, can AO organisers find it in themselves to feather the brakes a little in order to preserve the essence of this iconically Australian event before it’s forever and irrevocably tarnished?