Rumors swirled around the tournament grounds all morning, ravaged in a storm by spectators half watching matches as they scrolled through their news feeds and studied lyrics from friends and family members.
After Andrews confirmed the worst rumors, a bottleneck formed in the aisles, with spectators leaving the stadium to call airlines for rebooking flights rushing past those still inside. Two fans, Lauren Grundeman and Belinda Brown, waited until after Williams closed her game to call Qantas Airways. Anticipating flight schedules to be cut short in the coming days due to the lockdown, they wanted to ramp up their return trip to Sydney and leave in a few hours.
“We were late,” said Grundeman. “All flights today were sold out half an hour ago.”
Grundeman and Brown considered themselves lucky to be able to secure seats for a Saturday afternoon return. They did not regret coming. It was worth the inconvenience, they said, to see Williams get closer to a record-breaking 24th Grand Slam title.
“Absolutely,” said Brown. “Serena is great.”
Williams is a charismatic headliner, but the atmosphere lacked its usual fizz, said Grundeman, who regularly attends the Australian Open. The lines to enter, which are usually long, were non-existent on Fridays. There were no Swedes painted with national colors on their faces. No Dutchman in orange from head to toe. Grundeman described the energy as “flat”.
Friday’s announced attendance, on a day specially crafted for soaking up the sun and world-class foundations, was 22,299. Many Melburnians had said in interviews and letters to newspapers that they were deviating this year out of caution. Brown said she couldn’t blame them.
“If I were local, I would be a bit like, We don’t need people to bring extra bags,” she said.
Julie Dunlop got up for the sun and called her daughter. They had tickets to Friday’s day session, but Dunlop was troubled by television reports that a lockdown – or “the dreaded L word,” as she called it – was imminent. Should they soak up the sun before hiding in their homes? Or was it wise game to stay away?