Players want to break up the party on Melbourne Park’s Court 6

Paula Badosa has joined the gaggle of athletes critiquing the recently renovated “party court” on Melbourne Park’s Court 6.

Badosa, incidentally, played both of her matches at the Australian Open this year on the same court, where the organisers came up with the plan to build a brand-new, two-story bar right next to the tennis court.

Badosa defeated Taylor Townsend in the opening round to earn her first victory after recovering from a back ailment which wrecked her 2023 season and destroyed her ranking. In her subsequent round, the 26-year-old repeated her victory over Russian seasoned player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

“Yeah, I played the day before also there. My two matches I played there. It’s very noisy, very loud. It’s a little bit tough to concentrate there. Especially also the court is pretty fast. But I’m feeling well there, so I’m not going to complain (smiling).”

After the game, Badosa acknowledged to reporters that it was “noisy” and had a significant negative impact on her ability to concentrate. Officials don’t seem to be able to intervene and request silence, so players just have to put up with it.

“Yeah, but I know it’s pretty loud. It’s not very comfortable for the players to play there. In my opinion, I don’t really like it because there’s a lot of noise, as I said. I mean, my opponent in the first round and now also complained.

“It’s not very comfortable. I cannot listen to my team either if they want to say something or if I want to, like, talk to them. Even during the points, it’s quite noisy. I don’t know if it’s going to work in the future.”

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley claimed that Court 6 will ‘soon become known’ as the ‘Party Court’.

Badosa’s boyfriend and seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has also criticised the concept.

“You don’t know until you’re a tennis player, when you’re trying to zone in, get in the zone, it’s difficult when you see movement and when you see stuff happening around you,” Tsitsipas said.

Australian journeyman John Millman thinks that players must become used to the chaos and distractions of the “party court” as it is the way the game is going.

“It’s a sign that the times are changing a little bit,” he said. “It’s high entertainment, the consumers and the patrons are the ones that are paying the bills and I think the players have got to live with it.”

READ MORE: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova says drunk fans took Party Court meowing too far