Long queues for fans at Melbourne Park on day one

Tens of thousands of people flocked to the area on the first day of this year’s Australian Open, while tennis fans faced huge queues to enter Melbourne Park on Sunday.

Queues to enter the site peaked from late morning until after lunch, with estimated wait times exceeding one hour.

Shortly after noon, two separate lines circled two different corners at the entrance to the Grand Slam Oval, and participants appeared confused about which direction they should go. Long queues formed at the entrance of the Garden Square at the other end of the area shortly before the game started.

Arron Hall, who came to the tournament from Sydney, said that the waiting time to enter the tournament was more than an hour when he arrived around 12:30.

“That’s to be expected when you come to a live sporting event. The first day is on a Sunday with weather like this,” Hall said as he waited in another line to get a seat at one of the courts.

He said many people around him were starting to get annoyed with the staff, and some were demanding refunds because they missed the start of the game.

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“I joked with this lady saying, ‘There’s nothing at Wimbledon.’ She said, ‘I’ve been to Wimbledon and it’s not that bad,'” Hall said.

Another couple, who did not want to give their names, said they had been waiting for 45 minutes when they reached the Olympic Boulevard queue shortly after noon.

“Considering the ticket price… it’s not good enough,” one of them said. “[Tennis Australia] “They’ll probably have to have a crisis management meeting after that…they can’t do that for 14 days.”

At a press conference before play began on Sunday morning, tournament director Craig Tiley announced that ground pass sales for the day had officially ceased; This signaled the upcoming busy day.

Queues were reported to be shorter at the Birrarung Marr Entrance on the western side of the site and further away from the other two gates.