Australian Open faced losses worth $62 MILLION despite Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka's wins

Despite navigating the tricky waters of the pandemic to put on a highly successful tournament, the organizers of the Australian Open - Tennis Australia - have confirmed that they will incur a heavy loss for this season of the Grand Slam. While it was expected and widely reported that this would be a likely outcome of hosting the event under the conditions of the lockdown, the huge amount of the loss has taken fans by surprise. Earlier reports and interviews by Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley have also mentioned that it will take the organization many years to recoup these losses.

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Australian Open suffers $78 million in losses in 2021

Facing heavy restrictions and backlash from the local community, Craig Tiley's decision to go ahead with the Australian Open was a debatable one. For not only did TA have to push the tournament dates forward by a huge margin - leading to a significant drop in TV revenues - they also had to cover the costs of the players' hotel quarantines and travel by chartered flights to Melbourne. This in itself, proved to be a huge financial undertaking and a burden for the association. Even with all these extra costs, one thing that could have made a world of difference was the presence of spectators at the tournament.

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However, with the state of Victoria still following strict measures and Melbourne COVID-19 cases seeing a little spike as the Slam progressed, TA was denied their biggest source of income - the fans. The regulations in Melbourne only allowed the tournament to be run at half capacity, meaning 30,000 visitors a day. With most people still wary of attending such large gatherings the Slam barely reached its new full capacity before the snap 5-day lockdown was announced on February 12.

This lockdown came at a most unfortunate time for the Slam, which was just reaching its business end at the time. According to Tiley, the more than 100,000 ticket refunds from these 5 days proved to be one fo the biggest hits for the event. 

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Speaking to SEN ahead of the Australian Open’s final weekend, Tiley confirmed that TA would lose up to A$78 million from the event, including exhausting their A$80 million reserves and taking a A$ 40-60 million loan. "Obviously, we took a big hit with five days with no fans, as you don’t sell merchandise [and] sponsors don’t get activation. You don’t sell tickets or premium hospitality. So five of 14 days, that’s a big hit" Tiley added.

The tournament's losses have also reflected in the winner's prizes, with 2021 champions Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka taking home A$2.75 million (₹15.47 crores) - the lowest pay for an Australian Open singles champion since 2014.

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Image Credits: Australian Open Twitter