Australian tennis veteran John Millman says players need to adapt to the noise and distraction of the “party court” at the Australian Open, as the sport adjusts to changing fan expectations.
Millman retired from singles after losing in the tournament qualifiers last week but won his first round doubles clash with 19-year-old South Australian Edward Winter, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 7-6 (14-12) over Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner in a rain-interrupted match.
The match took place on Thursday on court six, where Tennis Australia has constructed a two-storey bar on the eastern sideline for this year’s tournament. The environment has drawn complaints from international players including men’s No 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Millman and Winter’s round one clash was interrupted by rain delays but culminated in a final set tiebreak that drew an avalanche of noise from the fans, who are in close proximity to the players and enjoy drinks and music from their seats.
“I think they spent the delays having a few drinks because it was pretty rowdy, they started to get really into it,” Millman said.
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova lost to Paula Badosa on the court on Wednesday, and said afterwards spectators were “meowing” at her.
Tsitsipas played there with his brother Petros on Tuesday and said the changes to the tournament this year – which include the bar on court six, as well as more opportunities for fans to come-and-go from their seats in breaks between games – were distracting.
“You don’t know until you’re a tennis player, when you’re trying to zone in, get in the zone, it’s difficult when you see movement and when you see stuff happening around you,” he said.
Millman believes it is the way the game is going.
“It’s a sign that the times are changing a little bit,” said the veteran. “It’s high entertainment, the consumers and the patrons are the ones that are paying the bills and I think the players have got to live with it.”
Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley said in October that court six was “a model we’d like to expand across the site in future”.
Winter, who was named Tennis Australia’s best male junior in 2022, said tennis needed to modernise.
“You see what LIV Golf has done and stuff like that, and I think those changes are good for the sport,” he said.
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“Sure, there’s obviously still need the traditional side of tennis and there’s still a certain etiquette to it, but I do think, for the progression of the game, what Tennis Australia and the Australian Open [are doing] is really important.”
Millman said the nature of crowds had changed in recent years. “It’s just the reality of playing tennis in this day and age. It’s gonna be a bit more wild than it used to be. It’s definitely a lot more wild than what it was when I first started playing but it’s a lot of fun.”
Millman’s decision to play doubles with Winter was made only hours before the draw. The 34-year-old has known the Winter family for years, including Edward’s younger brother Hugh who plays juniors.
The veteran, who reached No 33 in the world in 2018, said this doubles run would be his last tournament.
“If we’d lost 14-12, that would have been the last point I’d played,” he said. “Yeah, it’s cool to have one more match.”
The pair play the winner of the clash between James Duckworth and Marc Polmans, and second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matt Ebden.
Another Australian Max Purcell narrowly missed out on reaching the third round of a grand slam singles draw for the first time, despite an entertaining performance against 11th seed Casper Ruud.
The Norwegian eventually won in a match tiebreak 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) on Thursday afternoon.
