Italian Open ticket prices ‘ridiculous’ as lavish cost for final is revealed

Novak Djokovic in Rome

Tennis fans hoping to attend the Italian Open Masters tournament in Rome have been left stunned by the expensive prices for tickets in the Central Court at the Forro Italico.

Some matches in the opening days of the latest Masters series events have been played in front of sparse crowds on the main court, with wild scenes and raucous crowds in evidence on the outside courts, where ticket prices are much more affordable.

Italy’s Martina Trevisan played in front of a partisan crowd as she contested a thrilling contest against Czechia’s Karolina Muchova, but there have been much more muted scenes on a sparsely-populated Central Court.

Novak Djokovic’s return to the ATP Tour saw him take on Tomas Martin Etcheverry in front of a modestly populated stadium on Friday evening, with top-price tickets on sale for €319 for the day session and €157 for the evening session under the lights.

Those prices already look extravagant for the opening round of a Masters series event, but the prices for the back end of the tournament make for eye-watering viewing.

If you want to buy two tickets for next Friday’s men’s semi-finals, you will be asked to pay €633.60 for a courtside ticket. Seats in the higher parts of the stand are also available for €312.40 each.

Prices for the men’s final next Sunday are available on the official ticket website, with courtside seats available for a wallet-busting €821.70 and upper-tier tickets available for €389.40 each.

There is also ticket availability at €349.80 and €325.60, with the cheapest tickets costing a massive €261.80.

It means the average ticket price for the Men’s and Women’s final at Wimbledon in July looks cheap at £255 for all areas of Centre Court, which converts to around €290.

This is the ticket price list on the Italian Open official website, with some tickets for the men’s Final available for €1074.00.

Italian Open ticket prices
Italian Open ticket prices

The issue of ticket prices in Rome was raised by the Amazon Prime commentators during the Djokovic v Etcheverry match, with former British No 1 Laura Robson suggesting the pricing is an issue.

“I think it is a silly decision,” declared Robson on the ticket prices issue.

“This is such a good event, such a good opportunity to get more people into seats.

“We have seen every day on the outside courts how packed it has been. Every court has been full. That’s what you want to see.

“It is very rare for Djokovic that he is not playing in front of a packed stadium. There is still enough people here to make a noise, but it feels like this is an opportunity missed.”

Top-price tickets for today’s (May 13) action in Rome are listed at €406, with that prices rising steadily next week up to the tickets for the final that are priced at over €1000.

With tickets in all areas of the Central Court at the Forro Italico available for the rest of the tournament, it seems the ticket prices are too much for a lot of tennis fans to stomach.

So we can expect more empty seat for the big matches in Rome, with the outside courts set to prove the more dramatic crowd scenes.

It will be a major embarrassment to tournament organisers if there are swathes of empty seats for the latter stages of their event, with social media critics describing the ticket pricing as “ridiculous” and “too expensive”.

READ MORE: Novak Djokovic fumes at ‘absolute disaster’ as he wins Rome Masters opener

 

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