A woke bloke? Darcy Moore gives his verdict on seating rules

From the grand final to Anzac Day, Collingwood skipper Darcy Moore knows what it’s like to play in front of a noisy crowd.

The noise certainly doesn’t seem to have affected the All Australian’s performance, so perhaps it’s little surprise that he’s thrown his support behind new Australian Open rules that allow spectators to enter arenas to take their seats between each game, rather than every second game.

Darcy Moore enjoying the tennis on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images

“Generally, any initiative to make the experience the best for fans is a great thing,” Moore told us on the sidelines of an intimate Emirates dinner on Tuesday evening. “It gets more bums on seats, I suppose.”

Moore had his mum on his arm at the event and plenty of teammates on the guest list, including Josh Daicos, Scott Pendlebury and Mason Cox. Emirates is, of course, a sponsor of the Magpies as well as the tournament’s official airline.

Whatever the desirability of seated bums, the new rule has caused ructions, with title favourite Novak Djokovic voicing some questions about the practice before Australian tennis young gun Jordan Thompson declared the Open the “wokest tournament ever” over the innovation.

Moore at an Emirates dinner on Tuesday.Credit: Madeleine Heffernan

And noisy Australian Open patrons are certainly irritating some players, including crowd favourite Stefanos Tsitsipas, who believes good tennis needs peace and quiet.

“You know, there is a tiny little yellow ball flying around, and it requires your concentration sometimes over 100 per cent,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“That’s why Wimbledon is one of my favourite tournaments, because there is silence and you can just concentrate and focus on your game.”

Good luck finding silence at this Open, which has a “party court” right next to a train line for punters who like it loud.

Polish player Iga Swiatek reckons the Australian Open crowd is quiet compared with the Americans. “Honestly, if I can focus there, at the US Open, then I can focus anywhere.”

Jordan Thompson has criticised the spectator rule change.Credit: Eddie Jim

Just imagine how things would be if the Open were not missing some colourful characters this year, particularly Nick Kyrgios. The good news is cleaning business Quayclean Australia has provided 25 “Trash Talkers”.

They’re not going to provide performance assessments to umpires, but they will help guests put their rubbish in the right bin.

On the Mark

The Emirates event also had Mark Philippoussis discussing just where he got his nickname “The Scud”. It stems from a warm-up session with famed doubles duo The Woodies – Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde – as a 16-year-old when he managed to hit Woodbridge twice. They gave him the nickname on the spot.

Does he enjoy the nickname? “I enjoy it more than ‘The Poo’.”

For love, not money

Despite the Open’s record crowds, record prizemoney, and handy taxpayer bailouts, the event’s 400 ballkids are still working for the love of the game.

There was something of a social media storm last year when tennis tragics around the world discovered the Australian Open’s growing army of tween and teen ballkids were unpaid, despite standing in sweltering heat for hours on end and working well into the night.

Thousands of children aged 12 to 15 apply to be a ballkid. They see the world’s best players up close, get decked out in designer gear, and receive a gift bag as a thank-you, which in previous years has included speakers and iPods.

But the lack of cash is fascinating given the Open’s total player prizemoney pool has grown from $44 million in 2016 to a record $86.5 million this year.

Tiley’s time

A lot’s changed since 2005, but Craig Tiley’s grip on Australian tennis hasn’t. Tiley joined Tennis Australia in 2005 as director of tennis and was appointed chief executive in 2013. As CEO, he’s outlasted prime ministers Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and even calls for him to resign during those wild COVID days when Novak Djokovic arrived in Australia only to be swiftly deported for not being vaccinated.

Tiley was paid $US1.4 million in 2021, according to Tennis Australia filings in the US, and he and his wife spent more than $13 million on a beachside Melbourne home in 2022.

With a tenure the envy of most listed CEOs, Open Season wondered how long he might stay in the coveted role. Australian Open spokespeople, who have been shunted into tiny offices to create more space for AO retail, did not respond before deadline.

With Scott Spits, Stephen Brook

Watch all the Australian Open action live on Nine, 9Gem, 9Now and ad-free on Stan Sport.

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