Positive News for Australian Open Despite Major Setbacks Including Serena Williams and Roger Federer

The 2022 ATP tour has started with a bunch of tournaments taking place in Sydney and Adelaide. Top stars like Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and others have withdrawn from the Australian Open as doubts rise over Djokovic’s participation.

With the lack of big names except for Rafael Nadal, it was expected that the ticket collections would take a huge hit. But, fans are waiting to throng the stands of Melbourne Park as they want to root for the Spaniard in his quest to win the 21st Grand Slam title.

Also, youngsters like Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and others have slowly started gathering fans around them as they have stood up to the Big-3 in major tournaments last year.

Ticket sales have shown promise despite lack of big names at 2022 Australian Open

Commenting about the tickets sales, Tennis Australia spokesperson expressed satisfaction over the fact that fans want to see the action live despite the difficult conditions.

“With the ATP Cup now on TV, and lead-in events about to start in Adelaide and Melbourne, there’s a realization in the community that the AO is ready and raring to go. Melbourne Park looks incredible and there is so much that is new for this year”. 

The spokesperson also talked about the players who tested positive after landing in Australia.

“There have been some positive results within the playing group, which was not unexpected. Anyone with a positive result follows all the public health orders and is under expert medical care”. 

Also read: ‘Such a Nice Guy’: Taylor Townsend Lauds Rafael Nadal for His Kind Gesture Towards Fans

Players testing positive remains to be a major worry for Tennis Australia

Players like Denis Shapovalov and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova ended up testing positive for the virus after their arrival in Australia. But, the welcoming news for players is that the restrictions this year aren’t as severe as they were in 2021.

It is indeed heartening to see ticket collections going strong for the Australian Open this year even without the likes of big stars and the uncertainty over Djokovic‘s entry.

Both ATP and WTA tours had seen positives last year with respect to youngsters rising the bar with several new names making their mark on the international arena and the same is anticipated to continue this year as well, starting with Australia.

Watch this story: Everything You Need to Know About Roger Federer’s Daily Routine