Travel With Kristina

This one is for my fellow tennis lovers out there or anyone that needs any insight into this event. The Australian Open is held at Melbourne Park, Melbourne NSW Australia and is one of the biggest events of the year in this state! There are so many ways to get to Melbourne Park from any point in Melbourne whether you are staying within walking distance, hiring the many electric bikes and scooters lying about or hopping on the free tram service to the park. I ended up walking about 20-25 minutes from the Crown Metropol where I was staying (btw is a great hotel – 10/10) which was pretty easy everyday 🙂

Once you pass through security there is an entire section dedicated to the little ones up front with games and rides to keep them entertained all day long. I bypassed this section even tho the heat mixed with the child inside me wanted to run through the water features there. Further up you enter the main event, don’t get overwhelmed though – here are some of the main features you want to go and check out:

1- AO Photo Opportunity: a large AO filled with tennis balls draws a lot of attention from the patrons of this event, there may be a little line but it is so worth the photo for socials. You can see my happy little pic below, like I said – soooo worth it 🙂

2- Serve speed testing: Whether you know how to serve or not you will definitely get a kick out of this mini game Channel 9 set up near the entry. You get 2 chances to serve the ball as hard as you can against the screen they set up! Bonus points if you can make it on the leaderboard 🙂 I found this game to be loads of fun and I lined up more than once topping my serve speed at 119km/h.

3- AO Merchandise Store: This shop has everything you are looking for merchandise wise! Honestly I loved it in here and I spent waaaay more money than I needed to but no regrets. The merch consists of shirts, jumpers, water bottles, hats, pins, etc… the travelling collectors dream!

4- Food & Drink: Whether it’s Indian, Mexican, Italian or Greek food they have it all. Around the entirety of grand slam oval (in the middle of Melbourne Park) there are food stalls as well as many different bars in between if you want a drink to wash all the yummy food down. I personally went for the Italian and had a pepperoni and olive pizza which was delicious *chefs kiss*

5- The Actual Tennis (Duh): All matches start at 11am on either the external courts, Kia Arena, John Cain Arena, Margaret Court Arena or Rod Laver Arena so you want to be getting there at least 10-15 minutes prior to this to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the action. My advise for watching the matches is to take plenty of water, sunscreen and something to cover your leg as and head cause you will get toasted!

When purchasing your tickets you need to know a couple of things that you may not realise. The ground pass tickets give you access to all the mini games and photo ops as well as all external courts, Kia Arena and John Cain Arena. Tickets to Margaret Court Arena and Rod Laver Arena means your seats are booked for either the day or night session (whichever you book) so you can leave your seats knowing you still have them when you get back. If you want to watch the big names play I suggest night passes, you are almost guaranteed someone your know to be playing!

Pro Tip: If you check the schedule the night before your experience at the Australian Open at about 6pm you will be able to see who is playing in the free arenas and plan to arrive early to get good seats! (Seats in the free arenas are not bookable, first in, best dressed).