‘Tennis party’ Red Bull Bassline rocks Rod Laver Arena during AO Opening Week
From a Backstreet Boys singalong mid-match to a player stealing Dylan Alcott’s mic, Australia’s first Red Bull Bassline tournament was fast and loose. See the photos.
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Tennis legend Dylan Alcott has hailed the Australian debut of fast-paced tennis tournament Red Bull Bassline a roaring success, after world No.13 Holger Rune won the title in a perfect Aus Open tune up.
Tuesday night marked the first time the event had been staged outside Europe. Fans streamed into Rod Laver Arena to witness the “tennis party”, which headlined day two of AO Opening Week, presented by the Herald Sun.
Denmark’s Rune defeated world No.6 Casper Ruud, of Norway, to be crowned the inaugural Red Bull Bassline Melbourne champion.
Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan and Japan’s Kei Nishikori also played in the fast and loose format, which doesn’t involve any umpires, with players in charge of sorting out on-court disputes.
The event does have a DJ playing music throughout play, participants wearing heart-rate monitors, and rock, paper, scissors replacing the traditional racquet toss at the start of each match. Alcott also spent the night on mic as MC.
Popyrin was involved in one of the highlights when he led a singalong to Backstreet Boys hit I Want It That Way mid-match. Berrettini was also a crowd favourite, cheerleading from the side lines and taking Alcott’s mic at one point.
“The singalong was the best part,” Alcott said. “Matteo stealing my mic and starting to commentate, close second.
“Third favourite was the level of the tennis – sometimes exhibitions are a bit of hit and giggle, but they were going for it. I was like, ‘oh my God, they’re hitting it proper’. Very cool to see.
“I love traditional forms of tennis, but there’s definitely a space to do something different. Look how many young kids are here, screaming, having a good time – that’s what it’s all about.”
Popyrin said post-match that it was great to be part of the event to “get back to that feeling of playing in front of a crowd”.
Players were divided into two groups at the beginning of the night, and went on to play two short matches against the others in their group.
To win a Bassline match, players had to win two “sets”, which were decided by the first player to score five points, tie-break style. The two players will the most wins at the end of the group stage – Rune and Ruud – faced off in the final.
Earlier in the evening, Popyrin – who knocked Novak Djokovic out of the US Open last year – took on reigning AO champ and world No.1 Jannik Sinner in a charity match on Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner prevailed 6-4 7-6 (7-2), but Popyrin said he was pumped to be back at his favourite tournament with “the crowd behind me”.
“Hopefully they find my aggressive game exciting — big serve, big forehand, trying to keep the points short and sweet,” the world No.25 said.
Sinner said he was “happy to be back” on the court where he won his first grand slam, adding the exhibition to raise money for children’s charities through the Australian Tennis Foundation was the ideal way to “get this match feeling back”.
Three further nights of charity matches will follow, headlined by Alex de Minaur vs. Carlos Alcaraz tonight, January 8, A Night with Novak on January 9 and Alcaraz vs. Popyrin on January 10. Tickets start at $30 for adults and $24 for kids and concession, and provide access to two matches each night.
AO Opening Week ground passes cost $15 for adults and $10 for kids, and are available via Ticketmaster.
AO OPENING WEEK, PRESENTED BY THE HERALD SUN
JANUARY 8 HIGHLIGHTS
Charity matches, Rod Laver Arena – 5pm: Qinwen Zheng vs. Elina Svitolina, 7pm: Alex de Minaur vs. Carlos Alcaraz
Open Practice with top seeds, RLA
AO qualifying matches, outside courts
Fan Stage, Grand Slam Oval – Hot Shots racquet giveaways at 12.30pm and 4pm
REST OF THE WEEK
JANUARY 9
AO draw with 2024 champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka
AO 1 Point Slam amateurs vs. pros tournament
Charity matches – Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Alexander Zverev and others play mixed doubles, A Night with Novak Djokovic
JANUARY 10
Charity matches – Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alexei Popyrin, Jannik Sinner vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
JANUARY 11
Kids Tennis Day
JANUARY 12
AO main draw begins
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