The opening day of the 2026 Australian Open came down to chaos as long queues forced a pause in ticket sales, with fans left stranded with no tickets after lining up for hours.
With tightened security after
December’s Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney, hundreds of spectators queued outside the venue in scorching heat. Within the first hour of play, tournament officials paused sales of the popular and affordable ground pass tickets because of overwhelming demand.
Ground passes, costing A$65 (around Rs 6000) for adults during day sessions, grant access to the outer courts and are a favourite for fans wanting to soak up the atmosphere of the season’s first Grand Slam.
However, tournament director Craig Tiley confirmed that by mid-morning only the costlier main showcourt tickets remained, a detail many fans in the queues hadn’t realised.
Josh Main, visiting from the Netherlands, described the experience as a major letdown during a family holiday planned around the tournament.
“We went to look for tickets, but there was a big line, so I thought, are we in the right line? They told us there are no tickets left, so we cannot get in. They did say there were tickets left for Rod Laver Arena, but we aren’t going to sit there today and it is expensive,” Main said while speaking to Reuters.
Local fans also expressed their frustration, with Melbourne resident Elton Yu saying that he was shocked to discover that ground passes were unavailable.
“Never expected not to have any tickets for the ground pass, which I always do,” Yu told Reuters.
Another local fan, Susan Walsh, said that she and her group already had arena tickets but had hoped to gain entry earlier in the day.
“We tried to buy a ground pass and they just told us it was only tickets that were $229 (Rs 20800) per person. Did not want to spend that much money, so a bit disappointed,” Walsh said.
