Wicket Logo White
Wicket_Stacked_Color_S_L
CONTACT

Australian Open

How Tennis Australia Scaled Usage of Biometric Express Entry by 500% Year over Year

TICKETING

< 1 s
Average time it takes for the Wicket system to identify an enrolled user
1142
Number of fans who enrolled on-site during Day 1 of the event​
20 %
Fans who used express entry lanes more than once during the tournament

EXPRESS ENTRY

The 2026 Australian Open

CUSTOMER PROFILE

  • Host of the Australian Open, one of four Grand Slam tennis tournaments
  • Attended by over a million patrons
  • Located in Melbourne Park, home to three venues with over 30k capacity
The Australian Open is one of the largest tennis events of the year, and is the most attended Grand Slam event. Due to the scale of the event, Tennis Australia set out to put a solution in place to help reduce wait times and long lines. After a pilot in 2024 and increased usage in 2025, Tennis Australia made the decision to double down and broadly expand the express entry program in 2026.

Tennis Australia continues to prioritize the fan experience with innovative solutions like Wicket that streamline entry into Melbourne Park. We look forward to continued expansion of this technology in 2027.

Gary Iakovidis

 Director of Ticketing & Product Sales

Tennis Australia

Problem

Long lines & Wait Times

Like other events that are at the same size and scale as the Australian Open, long lines are an unfortunate reality for fans – especially at peak times. In an effort to reduce wait times at entrances, Tennis Australia turned to innovative new technologies such as Wicket to enhance the fan experience and speed up the entry process.

Manual Scans​

Traditional ticketing systems require physical scans of ticket barcodes, which slows down entry and requires guests to have tickets ready

Automated Scans

Express Entry allows guests to opt in to use dedicated express lanes to redeem their tickets, which are paired with their face, in seconds

Solution

An Express Experience

Thanks to an existing integration with Ticketmaster, the chosen ticketing platform of the Australian Open, Wicket worked with Tennis Australia to deploy “Express Entry” lanes. These lanes allow fans who have opted-in to walk up to a Wicket ticketing device and instantly see any tickets available to scan. These express lanes are easy to set up and scale to meet increased demand and usage.

<1s
Average time it takes for the Wicket system to identify an enrolled user at entry locations
Battle-tested Technology

Wicket has spent years deploying and learning from over 8 million guest entries into sports facilities and live events and is an industry leader

Implementation

Giving Fans a Choice

Express lanes were set up at three key entry locations at the City Entrance, Garden Square Entrance, and Grand Slam Entrance. Enrollment signage was displayed so fans could easily scan a QR code to enroll in less than 1 minute, and signage directed them to the express lane where they could redeem all of their tickets in seconds.

4,071
Number of fans who enrolled on-site during Day 1 of the event
3-Step Enrollment

Fans simply need to log in to their Ticketmaster account, take a selfie, and link tickets to enroll.

The Results

A 5-second Process

Over 22,000 fans enrolled in Express Entry and redeemed 20,000 tickets in 2026 alone, with an average of 5 seconds from identification to ticket scan. There was also a 7x increase in usage year-over-year.

25%

Repeat Usage

1 in 4 fans used express entry lanes on multiple days during the 2026 Australian Open event

SIMPLIFY TICKETING

Create Frictionless Experiences

CONTACT SALES