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<\/p>\nCriticism that tennis caters to the elite has followed the sport for years, and climbing ticket prices aren\u2019t helping its reputation.<\/p>\n
The game has its roots in wealthy circles and still carries a sense of exclusivity that hasn\u2019t completely faded away.<\/p>\n
Unlike football, which can be played just about anywhere with whatever you have on hand, tennis needs proper courts and specialised gear. That makes it harder for people to get into the game.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s been progress in making tennis more accessible over time, it hasn\u2019t quite shed its exclusive image yet.<\/p>\n
The latest spike in Australian Open ticket prices isn\u2019t likely to help either, only making things harder for fans already struggling to afford entry-level seats.<\/p>\n
What a $20k Australian Open ticket actually gets you<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
The men\u2019s final is always the headline act in Melbourne, and this year, anticipation is already building for another showdown between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n
While that match will likely attract the highest prices on the secondary market, there\u2019s already a ticket package being sold directly for AU$20,000.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t just any seat in Rod Laver Arena. The ticket includes a VIP meet-and-greet with Roger Federer right on the court itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWimbledon was different. I never really looked at it that way because Wimbledon to me was always home,\u201d Federer told CNN Sport in 2018. \u201cGrowing up in Switzerland on clay and hard courts I used to watch so much tennis from Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
That connection has helped build Federer\u2019s reputation as one of the most beloved figures in Australian Open history, even though he hasn\u2019t been officially part of the main draw since 2020. The chance to meet him is something few fans would pass up if given the chance.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLooking at tennis ticket prices for some of the sport\u2019s biggest events<\/p>\n
While a $20k ticket to the Australian Open is sure to draw plenty of attention, there are other matches in tennis where even basic entry will set fans back far more than that.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, that record was broken when the men\u2019s US Open final became the most expensive ticket in tennis history.<\/p>\n
The average price for that match, which saw Carlos Alcaraz win in four sets, reached an astonishing $4,058.<\/p>\n
At one point, tickets climbed as high as $45,561. That\u2019s significantly higher than the $27,048 some paid to see the same matchup at Wimbledon. Even at its lowest point, entry into Arthur Ashe Stadium for this year\u2019s US Open final cost around $429.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Criticism that tennis caters to the elite has followed the sport for years, and climbing ticket prices aren\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-342980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}