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From 16 to 29 January, the Australian Open will take place in the Australian metropolis Melbourne. The first tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year offers a special feature of sports venues - three stadiums have a lockable roof.
The Melbourne Park has three stadiums with a retractable roof - the Rod Laver Arena (14,820 seats), the Hisense Arena (10,000 seats) and the Margaret Court Arena.
The four Grand Slam tournaments can reflect upon a long history – for more than 100 years games have been played in Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon and New York. Over time, the stadiums hosting the tournaments have undergone substantial changes.
Increasing spectator capacities and retractable roofs are the result of this development and the most recent project is the main stadium at the US Open. The retractable roof, which can be closed in 5:42 minutes, was placed over the Arthur Ashe stadium during the summer of 2016 and cost around 90 million Euros.
With the exception of the French Open, all Grand Slam tournaments have at least one stadium with a retractable roof, although the Tournoi de Roland Garros in Paris is planning to follow suit in the not-too-distance future. But by no means have we come to the end of the road of the construction.
The organisers of the US Open and Wimbledon Championships are planning to add a further retractable roof to additional courts at their venues. By 2019, Court One at Wimbledon is set to have such a system with preparation already started, back in summer 2016.
“The media and spectators have guaranteed games,” said Johnny Perkins, Communications Director of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which hosts the Wimbledon championships, when asked about the advantages of a retractable roof construction. “In addition to this, fans stay longer to watch a late game,” he added.
In total, 14 major tennis construction projects are presently in the planning stages or are already in implementation. Next to the Grand Slam tournaments an increasing number of ATP and WTA tournaments are expanding their stadiums.
In Indian Wells (USA) for the BNP Paribas Open, a further court with a capacity of 5,000 is planned; the Tennis Stadium Kitzbühel is to be expanded by 2,500 with the help of a mobile stand and the Tennisstadion Hamburg Rothenbaum is expected to be completed between 2018 and 2022.
Six of the 14 current tennis construction projects are not part of the ATP and WTA calendar; however, these courts are needed for other events including the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo or the Universiade 2017 in the capital of Taiwan, Taipei.
Four indoor and 14 outdoor courts are going to be provided at the Taipei Tennis Centre, while the centre court will offer space for 5,000 spectators with court number one offering a capacity for 1,000 fans. (Stadiaworld, 16.01.2017)
