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Events and Attractions

Australian Open Deals With Heavy Crowds At Melbourne Park After Federer Match

There was a "dangerous crowd crush" at the Australian Open on Monday night as thousands of fans left Rod Laver Arena following Roger Federer's late-night match, according to Marissa Calligeros of the Melbourne AGE. More than 15,000 people attended Federer's Grand Slam return against Austrian Jurgen Melzer. Michael Brennan, a fan at the match, said that "hundreds of spectators started making their way across the footbridge" between Melbourne Park and the Emirates Skydeck, "only to discover it was blocked off by gates at the other end." He said that there was "no adequate signage to give people advance notice that the bridge was closed." Brennan "fears what would have happened had there been an emergency." Tennis Australia in a statement said, "At no point on the evening was a crowd crush observed or reported" (THEAGE.com, 1/17).

FULL STEAM AHEAD: Australian Open Tournament Dir Craig Tiley said, "Everything worked great on day one. ... 2017 was the year we had the most changes on sight. We flipped the whole site around to face the city, built a new bridge for our fans coming down from the city, which we were a bit nervous about. We weren't sure how many of our fans were going to use it but we're very happy that most of our fans used it as an entry. ... We've changed all our zones. We have a kid zone, we have a food and entertainment zone, and we have a music zone." Tiley said the tournament also "had a record crowd" on Monday ("Tennis Channel Live," Tennis Channel, 1/16).

EYE ON THE PRIZE: ESPN's Chris Fowler said having Hawk-Eye cameras on every court at the tournament would be "money well spent." Fowler noted there is a "new building" being constructed for $270M (all figures AU), and it will "be fabulous." Fowler: "It's a retractable roof restaurant for the players ... it's a nice addition to Rod Laver Arena." But Fowler thinks some players "might say, 'Let's have one less pool table and put some more Hawk-Eye cameras on the courts so you don't have to be a top player to enjoy Hawk-Eye." ESPN's Brad Gilbert said, "Take $10 million away from that building. They've got to have (Hawk-Eye) on every court to be fair. This is a Slam ... that's priority No. 1. Take all Slams and it should be on every court" ("Australian Open," ESPN2, 1/17). 

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