Before the main draw starts, the Australian Open runs an entire week that most first-time visitors don't know exists. Opening Week — also called qualifying week — fills the days before the tournament proper with 128 men and 128 women fighting through three qualifying rounds for the last spots in the main draw, alongside open practice sessions where seeded stars warm up in public view. Tickets for this week run a fraction of main-draw prices, and the tennis is frequently better than the name "qualifying" suggests: players ranked 100-250 playing must-win matches with real intensity, some of whom will be in the second week of the main draw a fortnight later.
The National Tennis Centre, entered via Entrance D off Olympic Boulevard, is where most of the open practice happens outside match hours. It's Melbourne Park's actual training facility: eight indoor Plexicushion courts, five outdoor Plexicushion courts, and eight clay courts, built when the Open moved from Kooyong in 1988 and expanded since into one of the more complete high-performance tennis facilities anywhere. During tournament weeks it's where players warm up before matches and where, during Opening Week specifically, scheduled open practice sessions let fans watch top names hit for free or for the price of a grounds pass, often standing courtside close enough to hear the ball.
Rod Laver Arena itself also hosts open practice during this window — a rare chance to sit in the main show court for free, watching players work through their pre-tournament routines rather than compete. The precinct runs family and entertainment programming alongside it: an official Draw ceremony mid-week, evening "Showdown" exhibitions, and AO Live music at night, so Opening Week functions as a genuinely different, lower-key event from the tournament that follows it, not a watered-down preview.
The catch is real: practice schedules are published only a day or two ahead and change constantly as players adjust to jet lag, injuries, or last-minute withdrawal, so nothing about Opening Week can be planned as tightly as a main-draw session with an assigned court and time.
The qualifying draw itself is worth understanding as more than a formality: 128 men and 128 women enter, and the field is cut down across three rounds to the final 32 qualifiers on each side who earn a place in the main draw. That's a genuinely brutal structure, win three matches in a row against players just as hungry for the same spot, or your tournament ends before the "real" Open even begins. Watching that pressure play out on a nearly empty outside court, with almost none of the crowd main-draw matches attract, is a different, rawer version of tennis than anything the tournament proper offers.
