By Lidia Kelly
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – It took a few years of planning for four Polish university friends living on four different continents but the dream of getting together at the Australian Open finally came true this month.
Karolina Minczuk and her friends represent a growing wave of tennis enthusiasts, many from Eastern Europe and often women, who organise themselves in groups to travel to tournaments in the same way soccer or cricket fans have done for decades.
“We said, ‘we are doing the Australian Open 2025 Girls Edition’,” said thirty-something Minczuk, who lives in the English city of Cambridge.
“Our families, children, husbands, they are all left at home.”
Minczuk, Magda Polanowska-Drozdz from Los Angeles, and Magda Piorko from Johannesburg descended on Ewa Foroncewicz, who has lived in Melbourne for a decade, and the quartet will attend the tournament for as many days as Polish players are on court.
“Polish women from all over the world cheering for Polish tennis players,” Polanowska-Drozdz said on Thursday after witnessing compatriot Iga Swiatek dominate Rebecca Sremkova in the second round of the year’s first Grand Slam.
The trip cost the women thousands of dollars and it took days of travelling for some of them to get to Melbourne, but they said it was all worth it.
Dressed from head to toe in the red and white of the Polish flag, their presence at the stadium courts is noticeable and their nationality unmistakeable.
With the help of Melburnian, Katarzyna Paternoga, they have coordinated with other Polish expatriates and visitors to form what has become one of the Australian Open’s most visible fan groups.
“We analyse the schedules together, we buy tickets together, we sit together in the stadiums, with flags and colours,” said Paternoga, who has been going to the Australian Open for two decades.
“We are all about tennis and supporting our players.”
Their loud support so far away from home is certainly much appreciated by world number two Swiatek.
“I’m glad that there are such groups, I feel their support,” the five-times Grand Slam champion told Reuters after reaching the fourth round on Saturday.
“Wherever I go, in every corner of the world, there are Poles who support me, and every year I have the impression that there are more and more of them.”
FOLLOW THE STARS
According to the Victoria state government some 620,000 hotel nights were booked in Melbourne during last year’s tournament, which welcomed just over 1 million spectators, many from overseas.
Tennis Australia said that it does not keep data on tickets sold by gender, but academic Ryan Storr says the diversity of the fans at Melbourne Park was obvious, especially the high proportion of women and girls.
“Historically, sport and sport events have not done well in attracting women, or ensuring safety at events,” Storr, a fellow at the Swinburne Sport Innovation Research Group, told Reuters.
“I think with equal prize money at the Grand Slams, successful women players with large fan bases such as Naomi Osaka, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, for example, it means fans and women fans want to follow their stars and support them.”
The four Polish friends have been impressed by the environment at the Melbourne Park precinct.
“The accessibility, the super relaxed and super friendly atmosphere are without comparison,” said Minczuk, who also attended the Wimbledon championships in London last year.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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