Craig Tiley Built the Australian Open Into Something Special. Now He Is Taking That Work to the US Open.
Craig Tiley spent 20 years building the Australian Open into one of the most attended and commercially successful Grand Slam events in the sport’s history. He oversaw the tournament’s expansion to a 15-day event. He broke attendance records. He broke revenue records. He turned Melbourne Park into a destination that players and fans genuinely looked forward to every January.
On February 24, the U.S. Tennis Association announced he would be doing his next chapter in New York.
Tiley will become the CEO of the USTA, the organization that runs the US Open, stepping down from his role at Tennis Australia after 13 years as its chief executive. The USTA confirmed he will begin the new position in the coming months.
A Career That Started With a Coaching Staff and a Dream
Tiley is from South Africa. His path to running one of tennis’s most important institutions started not in an executive suite but on a college court. He was the head coach of men’s tennis at the University of Illinois from 1994 to 2005, a run that included an NCAA championship and a remarkable 32-0 record in 2003.
He became the Australian Open’s tournament director in 2006. Seven years later, he took over as CEO of Tennis Australia. Under his leadership, the Australian Open established itself as the Grand Slam with the most consistent growth in fan attendance and the most aggressive approach to on-site entertainment and experience. It became the event other majors quietly measured themselves against.
He leaves it, by his own account, in good shape. “I’m incredibly proud that Tennis Australia is now recognized globally as the player’s partner and the benchmark for the sport, events and entertainment,” Tiley said in a statement. “The sport in Australia is in excellent shape. Tennis is one of the nation’s most popular sports, and participation is growing strongly.”
What the USTA Is Getting
Tiley replaces Lew Sherr, who departed the USTA last year to become president of business operations for the New York Mets. Sherr had held the CEO role since 2022. Brian Vahaly, the USTA Board chair and interim co-CEO, made clear what the organization saw in Tiley.
“Craig brings a rare combination of global credibility at the highest level of the sport and a proven commitment to growing the game at the grassroots,” Vahaly said. “That balance is exactly what this moment requires.”
That framing matters. The US Open is already one of the most profitable sporting events in the world, consistently drawing around 700,000 fans to Flushing Meadows across its two-week run. What the USTA needs is not someone to keep the lights on. It needs someone who understands how to take something that already works and push it further, someone who has done exactly that before.
Tiley has done it before. That is the whole argument for this hire.
The Transition Ahead
Tiley will not start immediately. The USTA confirmed he will join in the coming months, a timeline that allows Tennis Australia to manage succession planning before the next Australian Open cycle begins in earnest.
His challenge at the USTA will be different from what he faced in Melbourne. The Australian Open was a tournament that needed to grow. The US Open needs to evolve, to modernize its relationship with players and fans, and to secure its identity at a moment when the sport’s landscape is shifting more rapidly than at any point in the Open Era.
Tiley looked at that challenge and said yes. The sport will be watching to see what he builds next.
