The AO ‘quallies’ used to be free. Not any more

It’s the tennis tournament before the tournament. A place where dreams are born and dreams can die. They call it the “quallies”, a cut-throat contest that will lead to 16 lucky men and women gaining entry to the Australian Open. For spectators, it used to be something for nothing. Not any more.

This time last year anyone could enter Melbourne Park for free during the qualifying week, wander around the place at leisure and watch some fine tennis played by youngsters on the way up and more experienced competitors raging against the dying of the light.

Spanish champion Rafael Nadal practises at Melbourne Park.Credit: Getty

In 2019, you might have spotted Polish teenager Iga Swiatek, then almost an unknown, now the world number one. Or, last January, young Italian Martina Trevisan, who a few months later reached the semis at the French Open. Or Australian newcomer Rinky Hijikata, who kicked on and took a set off Rafael Nadal at the US Open in August.

This week, similar scenarios will play out. But you’ll have to pay to get in. Not heaps: $10 for adults; $5 for children aged three to 14 – which suggests an interesting concept of adulthood or recognition that teenagers 15 and up will likely respond with an eye-roll to any suggestion of a stroll in the sunshine. Still, imagine the brouhaha if Collingwood tried to charge supporters wanting to attend the boys’ last training session before a footy final.

Except – sorry, Magpies – the quallies actually matter more. And not just for the prizemoney for players making it through to the main draw. This is where careers can begin and end. In 1977, a curly-haired lefty from Long Island named John McEnroe worked his way through the Wimbledon quallies and then stormed to the semi-finals. Just two years ago, 18-year-old Brit Emma Raducanu topped that, qualifying for the US Open and then winning the title.

So there’s a certain romance to the quallies; a sense you could be watching the Next Big Thing. Plus there’s poignancy in seeing older players who once made the top 10 fighting to hit the high notes again. Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, runner-up at Wimbledon in 2014, is having another crack at qualifying this week. So too Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek winning the US Open in September.Credit: AP

Why, then, has the Open effectively put the quallies and the entire lead-in week behind a paywall? Two reasons: greed and growth. AO23 (as the marketing whizzes call it, although there’s possibly already an isotope with that name) now runs for three weeks, not two. Just as the precinct and stadiums seem to grow as inexorably as tournament tsar Craig Tiley’s calls for more government money, lest Tasmania pinches the event if it can’t get its own footy team, the Open now has a heftier footprint on the calendar.

The buzzword at Open HQ is “experience”. So welcome to “Welcome Week” (and take another bow, Sandy from marketing). Tickets to quallies can also get you courtside to see practice sessions by some top players – which, ahem, you could often manage to do previously with some luck and clever scouting. There’s also a kids’ day coming up and a players’ hit-and-giggle fundraiser – ticketed separately.

Once the Open actually opens next Monday, well, experiences leap off the charts. Ticket options include dining experiences, entertainment experiences and tennis experiences – which no longer just mean being courtside with spectators going nuts and the score locked at five-all in the final set. That’s as yesterday as wooden racquets and all-white outfits.

For a bit extra you can get an up-close experience (plus selfie) with “a tennis great”, who will forever empathise with Star Wars bit-players paid to sign autographs for people dressed as Wookiees at fan festivals. Or get “up close and personal” for a “meet and greet” (plus selfie) with inanimate objects – specifically, the men’s and women’s trophies.

And let’s not forget the on-court seats sponsored by a manufacturer of bubbles or (ka-ching!) the chance to get within sniffing distance of players warming up on Rod Laver Arena before their match. No need to fret about selfies here:a professional photographer is part of the experience.

I get it. Every sport must move with the times. Tournaments are now events; happenings. Footy games come with booming soundtracks, cricket puts buckets on heads and many at Flemington never get close to a horse on Cup Day.

Still, this week marks the end of something: a chance to duck the commercialism and get to the tennis without the cost and crowds; to enjoy a dress-rehearsal before the curtain comes up. A sport that features the word “love” in its scoring now leans to the money.

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