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A zero-tolerance policy will be applied towards troublemakers at this year's Australian Open after ugly scenes marred the past two events, police and organisers have said.

A riot erupted at the tournament in 2007 between rival Croatian and Serbian fans, while last year police used capsicum spray on a group of Greek supporters, who claimed their methods were heavy handed.

Police had already said officers this year would be armed with capsicum foam, which is more accurate than the spray, and there would be a larger presence of uniformed and plain clothes officers.

Anyone caught misbehaving could be ejected for 24 hours, fined, banned from the venue or face serious criminal charges, they said.

"People that misbehave should understand there are consequences and it's most likely they will find themselves outside the arena," police superintendent John Cooke said.

Tournament director Craig Tiley added that organisers supported the police's actions in whatever they deemed necessary to remove the small minority of the fans that attended the tournament and caused trouble.

More than 1.1 million people had attended the event in the past two years, with problems rare, he said.

"We are confident that yet again the Australian Open will feature a fun and family friendly environment," Tiley said.

(Source: Reuters)