Australian capacity to increase capacity to 80% for finals

The Australian government announced on Friday that the crowd capacity for the Australian Open finals will increase from 65% to 80%, following a request from Tennis Australia.

Victoria Parliament member Martin Pakula took to twitter to make the announcement, stating that the increase in capacity was taken into consideration and eventually agreed upon following a request from Tennis Australia. On Wednesday the Australian Open had its spectator capacity lifted to 65% up from 50% since the commencement of the event almost two weeks ago.

The finals will feature home favorite Ashleigh Barty taking on American Danielle Collins on Saturday night, before an all-Australian men’s doubles final. Barty is aiming to become the first Australian woman to win their home Slam since Chris O’Neill in 1978.

Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis will play against fellow countrymen Matt Ebden and Max Purcell at the Australian Open Men’s Doubles final at the Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park. Both teams are unseeded and the Kyrgios/Kokkinakis pairing has been one of the highlights of the Open.

The men's final will take place on Sunday, and features World No.2 Daniil Medvedev take on 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in a mouth-watering clash. Medvedev will be looking to win his second consecutive Major title, while Nadal aims to sit alone atop the records table with 21 Grand Slam singles titles.