MELBOURNE: The first Grand Slam of the tennis calendar, Australian Open has decided to yet again hike its prize money by 10%, from AUD 55 million in 2018 to 60.5 million ($42.8 million) in 2019.
Craig Tiley, the tournament director claimed that men’s and women’s players as well as coaches were consulted largely before introducing a range of player-friendly initiatives for the event in Melbourne next year.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on listening to the players, and this year we’ve taken our consultation to a whole new level,” Tiley said.
“Our team has spent a lot of time this year talking to players, coaches and their teams about what’s important to them, what they like and what changes they want to see. “From these discussions, held at tournaments around the world, we’ve come up with some changes we know the players want, including the Serve Clock and Electronic Review on all match courts, making conditions more consistent across the precinct.
“We’ve increased the women’s qualifying draw to 128, in line with the men’s qualifying, removing what was really an historical anomaly, and we’re starting qualifying a day earlier.
“The 25-second Serve Clock will be introduced for all matches – we know there’s a move to speed up play and we’ll continue to work with the players on the best ways to do this.
“Coaching is an issue we’ve all spoken a lot about over the past couple of months, which is good. As a sport, tennis needs to decide the best way forward. We’ll continue the on-court coaching trial during qualifying – for both men and women – as we progress discussions with the many stakeholders involved. The sport needs to have a consistent approach to all issues around coaching.” he added.
The electronic review system will be available on all 16 courts as well as a Heat Stress Index will be developed by the organisers, that will replace the Extreme Heat policy.
Entertainment, food and kid-friendly activities will again be a feature of the Australian Open, the biggest sports and entertainment event in Australia.
The Australian Open draw will be televised as well as open for public viewing at the arena on 9 January. The AO Inspirational Series on January 24 will celebrate leaders in women’s empowerment, diversity and inclusion such as Billie Jean King. While the Australian Open Sports Film Festival will have daily screenings of sports films at three top locations of the venue.
