Day 1, court 1. Every year since 1994, these tennis-loving friends have raced into Margaret Court Arena on the first day of the Australian Open to snare front-row seats, up close to the action.

"It's our 21st birthday this year," said Leonie Oswold. "So we made an effort and though we would dress up."

Three of group, posing as Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Camilla in sticky rubber masks, truly looked the part as they cupped their fingers and waved to the crowd. They were graciously welcomed by the pre-match announcer and projected onto the screen above the stands.

It just so happened that British No. 1 Andy Murray – a supporter of Scottish independence – was up in the arena's second match of the day. The rubber-faced "royals" felt Murray's decision not to bow to them was in very poor taste.

"Maybe Murray did not understand the etiquette that he was supposed to come over and bow to us like they do at Wimbledon," laughs Raimonda Krogmann, dressed as the queen.

"Very disappointing indeed."

Raimonda and Leonie, joined by friends Mike Walsh and Cleo Jones, are seasoned tennis fans who know how to "get the whole crowd going".

They can barrack in Dutch, German, French and Italian. One year they even earned the title of unofficial Belgian cheer squad.

"The [Belgian] coach asked us to come again the next day ... and we would get free tickets," said Raimonda.

"We could lift  a whole team if we start chanting and cheering."

In the newly refurbished Margaret Court Arena, Murray made a strong start to his Australian Open with a straight-sets win over India's Yuki Bhambri.

Murray, 27, had to recover from 4-1 down in the third set but dominated the tie-break to seal the win. He will play Australia's Marinko Matosevic in the second round on Wednesday.