MELBOURNE, Australia — For decades, professional tennis players struggled with tournament organizers to get more money and better services, and while that battle is far from over, the level of player pampering at the Australian Open suggests a historic victory.
The cafeteria has had goji berries, chia seeds and an endless supply of fresh sushi. The child-care center has had an entire staff care for a minor boom of player babies. The salon had free hair-waxing treatments, even for the men.
Now, with the planned construction of a $100 million center for player services next to Rod Laver Arena — a stadium named after a man banished for years from the Open because he insisted on being paid — far more is in the offing, including his-and-her hot-and-cold plunge pools, outdoor and indoor player lounges and high-tech locker rooms stuffed with rounded couches and flat-screen TVs.
Tom Larner, director of facilities for the Open, said the building was part of a yearslong effort to improve players’ lives, an effort that includes doubling the prize money to $32 million this year from $16 million in 2007; stipends for travel, accommodation and food expenses; and, this year, free racket stringing.
The tournament already built a tennis training site in the first phase of an $800 million government-funded redevelopment of Melbourne Park. A golf-cart ride from the Laver arena, the training center has eight indoor and five outdoor hardcourts, eight outdoor clay courts and a vast gym that players describe with awe. The new building, part of the second phase of construction, is expected to be completed as soon as 2017.
“Maybe because it’s so far for most of us, the Australian Open is more welcoming than any other tournament in the world,” said Eric Butorac, president of the ATP’s Player Council. “It’s awesome here.”
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The new building will have a hotel-like lobby for these and other concierge services. The French Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open pay roughly comparable per-diem expenses for hotels and meals, but none have chosen to match the travel grant.
Australian Open officials said they often visit the other Grand Slam tournaments to ensure that Melbourne Park remains top-ranked in pampering.
But the inspiration for the new building came less from competing tennis facilities, since none come close to what is planned here, than those for rock and pop singers, who use the Laver arena for concerts for much of the year. In several interviews, Larner, the director of facilities, referred to the recipients of the Open’s largesse as “artists” instead of “players.”
“I like calling them artists,” Larner said. “Have you seen what they can do with those rackets?”
A version of this article appears in print on February 1, 2015, on page SP3 of the New York edition with the headline: A Tournament Intent on Leading the World in Pampering Players . Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
