The Australian Open leaves behind the Covid-19. Australia is preparing to host, starting on January 16, the first Grand Slam of the tennis calendar and it does so, finally, no restrictions. In 2022, the competition had to be held with 50% capacity limitations due to Omicron’s advance and marked by the deportation of the number one ranking country, Novak Djokovic, due to his refusal to get vaccinated.
Djokovic missed one of the most prestigious events in the world, as well as the US Open, but managed to rebuild by winning Wimbledon. “I became the villain of the world, which is a terrible position as an athlete”, came to declare the tennis player a few months ago. But this is in the past: with the removal of border restrictions with the Covid in Australia, in Australia, including the requirement to provide proof of vaccination, the return of the athlete was paved. This year, Djokovic is already paired up and ready to take revenge on the court in a competition that will also include Rafa Nadal. For his part, the number one in the world, Carlos Alcaraz, will miss it due to an injury to his right leg.
The Australian Open has increased its prize money by 3.5%
The players will have and prize money A$76.5 million (49.1 million euros), an amount that represents an increase of 3.5% compared to 2022. Specifically, the male and female winners will pocket three million Australian dollars (1.9 million euros), while the runners-up they will win 1.6 million Australian dollars (one million euros). However, this figure will be reduced by exchange rates and taxes.
Founded in 1905 and directed by Craig Tiley, the audiovisual rights of the event are in the hands of Eurosport. Discovery signed an agreement in 2021 with Tennis Australia to broadcast the Australian Open live and exclusively on a pan-European scale until 2031. The long-term deal, which began in 2022, includes all television and digital rights and sees it extend Eurosport’s association with the first Grand Slam of the season to more than 25 years, having broadcast its first Australian Open in 1995. In addition, he also sold the rights to Nine until 2029 for AU$500 million (321.1 million euros).
The Australian Open is the Grand Slam tennis tournament with which the season begins, an event that reports to the state of Victoria 388 million dollars (249.2 million euros) per year, generating an increase in employment of 1,700 jobs during a month in sectors such as the hotel or tourism industry.
The tournament reports to the state of Victoria 388 million dollars
Regarding sponsorship, the tournament generated $77.7 million (49.9 million euros) in revenue in 2022, a slight decrease of 2% compared to 2021. The drop was explained by the loss of five sponsors, although Tennis Australia somewhat made up for their absence with four new agreements with Marriott Bonvoy, Gordons, Aperol Spritz and SafetyCulture.
For this edition, Tennis Australia has broken a record and reached an agreement with the Japanese car brand Kia for one hundred million Australian dollars (64.2 million euros) in five years, marking an unprecedented figure in Australian sport so far.
This agreement helps in part to offset the hit of the pandemic on the accounts of Tennis Australia, which registered losses of 100 million Australian dollars due to the pandemic, spent its reserves of 80 million dollars and had to borrow another 40 million dollars. million Australian dollars to offset the expenses derived from the sanitary protocols and what stopped coming in due to capacity restrictions. In 2022, according to The Australian, the event recorded revenue of A$505 million (324.3 million euros), with profits of 4.6 million dollars (three million euros) and received twenty million dollars (12.8 million euros) extra in government subsidies.
