Roy Morgan Research
January 21, 2021

Australians are divided over the Australian Open

Topic: Press Release, Special Poll
Finding No: 8616
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A special Roy Morgan survey into attitudes regarding next month’s Australian Open shows Australians are split on what they think should happen with the Grand Slam tournament due to start in just over two weeks on Monday February 8.

Just over a third of Australians (36%) say they want the Australian Open to ‘go ahead as planned’ next month while 18% want the event to be ‘postponed for a week’. A further 20% want the tournament to be ‘played later in the year’ and a quarter of Australians (26%) want the event to be ‘cancelled’ altogether.

These results are according to the survey conducted with an Australia-wide cross-section of 1,648 Australians aged 18+ on Wednesday January 20 – Thursday January 21, 2021.


Men and younger Australians are keenest for the Australian Open to be played in February

Nearly two-fifths of men (39%) say they want the Australian Open to ‘go ahead as planned’ next month and a further 18% say they would like to see the tournament ‘postponed for a week’. In comparison, only 33% of women want the event to ‘go ahead as planned’ next month while 18% say they are in favour of a one week postponement.

Support for the Australian Open being played next month is highest among young people aged under 35 – 39% of whom want the tournament to ‘go ahead as planned’ compared to 37% of 35-49 year olds and 34% of people aged 50-64 or 65+.

In contrast, over a third of people aged 50-64 (34%) say the event should be ‘cancelled’ compared to 31% of those aged 65+, 20% of 35-49 year olds and 22% of people aged under 35.

On a State-by-State basis it is perhaps surprising that South Australians (42%) are the most in favour of the Australian Open ‘going ahead as planned’ next month. This is followed by Victorians (39%), people in New South Wales (38%) and Queenslanders (32%). There is little difference on the question between Melburnians (39%) and Country Victorians (40%).

Only 28% of Tasmanians and just 23% of West Australians say the tournament should ‘go ahead as planned’ in February. In fact, nearly half of West Australians (44%) say the event should be ‘cancelled’.

There is little political difference on the question with 37% of L-NP supporters, 35% of ALP supporters and 38% of Greens supporters saying the Australian Open should ‘go ahead as planned’ while around a quarter of L-NP supporters (27%), ALP supporters (26%) and Greens supporters (24%) say the tournament should be ‘cancelled’.


Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says Australians are fairly evenly split on whether, and when, next month’s Australian Open should go ahead – although tournament organisers are adamant the Grand Slam will be played as expected beginning Monday February 8:

“There is no clear consensus among Australians about the fate of next month’s Australian Open following several positive cases of COVID-19 in players, support staff and media who have flown out to Australia to take part in the tournament.

“All those arriving for the tournament are undertaking mandatory two-week hotel quarantine. However, those people arriving who were on board a flight with a positive COVID-19 case have been confined to their rooms for two weeks while players on board flights without a positive case are allowed out of their rooms for up to five hours of practice and exercise on court.

“This discrepancy has caused ‘uproar’ with certain players and the media with over 70 players confined to their hotel rooms because of a positive COVID-19 case on their flight out. Many of these players also claim they weren’t aware such a scenario would lead to two weeks of confinement.

“As it is more Australians (36%) say the tournament should ‘go ahead as planned’ next month than any other option, but the result is well short of a majority. A further 18% say the tournament should be ‘postponed for one week’ to allow for an equitable lead-in for all players – creating a narrow majority of 54% of Australians in favour of the Grand Slam being played in February.

“However, a sizeable minority of 46% of Australians say either the tournament should be ‘cancelled’ (26%) or ‘played later in the year’ (20%). Interestingly it is South Australians (42%) who are most in favour of the tournament ‘going ahead as planned’ – even more so than Victorians (39%). This may be related to the warm-up tournament being played in Adelaide later next week featuring both World Number Ones – Australian Ash Barty and Serb Novak Djokovic.”

Australians surveyed were asked The Australian Open Tennis starts on February 8 in Melbourne and players are currently in hotel quarantine to protect the community from COVID-19. Should the Australian Open go ahead as planned, be postponed for one week, be played later in the year or be cancelled?

Go ahead as planned: 36%, Postponed for a week: 18%, Played later in the year: 20% or Cancelled: 26%.

This special Roy Morgan Snap SMS survey was conducted with an Australia-wide cross-section of 1,648 Australians aged 18+ on Wednesday January 20 – Thursday January 21, 2021.

For further comment or more information contact:
Michele Levine 0411 129 093 or Gary Morgan 0411 129 094 or email 
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com.

The Australian Open Tennis starts on February 8 in Melbourne and players are currently in hotel quarantine to protect the community from COVID-19.

Should the Australian Open go ahead as planned, be postponed for one week, be played later in the year or be cancelled?

By Gender & Age

For comments or more information please contact:
Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com

Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size Percentage Estimate
40% – 60% 25% or 75% 10% or 90% 5% or 95%
1,000 ±3.0 ±2.7 ±1.9 ±1.3
5,000 ±1.4 ±1.2 ±0.8 ±0.6
7,500 ±1.1 ±1.0 ±0.7 ±0.5
10,000 ±1.0 ±0.9 ±0.6 ±0.4
20,000 ±0.7 ±0.6 ±0.4 ±0.3
50,000 ±0.4 ±0.4 ±0.3 ±0.2

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