A major figure in the governing of Grand Slams will officially switch from Australia to the United States this month, according to a report from The First Serve.
Craig Tiley has served as Chief Executive Officer of Tennis Australia since 2013, with one of his key responsibilities being the Australian Open. Under his mentorship, the tournament achieved a record attendance of 1,368,043 fans during three weeks this year. The qualifying week attracted 217,999 fans and the main draw 1,150,444 fans.
Tiley has also overseen new initiatives such as the One Point Slam, which was highly praised by both players and amateurs who took part. Another move was expanding the length of the main draw tournament by one day, with action starting on a Sunday. He has been credited with transforming the Australian Open into more than just a sports event.
However, for weeks, there has been speculation that the Australian is being pursued by the United States Tennis Association following the departure of their CEO, Lew Sherr, last year.
“There’s a lot of speculation around it and I just made a conscious decision not to fuel it,” Tiley told the Herald Sun earlier this year of his future.
“Because I really want to focus on delivering this year.
“But I can tell you that I’ve got some big plans for the future of the AO.
“Everything has a beginning and everything has an end.
“I’ve got a lot of ideas, creativity, energy left to do a lot of things still.”
Since those comments, it has been claimed that the USTA has struck a deal to hire Tiley with a formal announcement set to be made by the end of next week. The First Serve, which has a weekly two-hour radio slot on Australia’s Sports Entertainment Network, believes an ‘official word’ on the appointment will come soon.
“One thing we can tell you tonight is the confirmation of Craig [Tiley’s] announcement as the new CEO of the USTA will take place next week,” First Serve’s Brett Phillips said.
“Back in January, we were right in the cut and thrust of the bubble of the Australian Open… there was a lot of speculation. Everyone felt that this was a done deal, but we haven’t yet had official word, but we are going to have official word pretty shortly.”
Who could replace Tiley?
Assuming the move goes ahead, there is a question of who will take over from Tiley. Roger Rasheed, the former coach of Lleyton Hewitt and Grigor Dimitrov, has lent his support to a figure with experience in a different sport. He believes there should be strong consideration given to Gillon McLachlan, who was CEO of the Australian Football League for nearly a decade.
“Someone like Gillon, he knows how to deal with the big end of town, he’s very intellectual, very smart and understands how to evolve sports and codes,” Rasheed told Code Sports.
“He’s got a big range of skill sets, which I’m sure he could bring to the sport. “You’d need an understanding of tennis, but you wouldn’t be doing the right thing if you weren’t canvassing everyone.
“Those are the conversations you would want to have.
“He’s got a different set of eyeballs, and different thoughts. It’s about hearing different thoughts and certain ways of looking at the game. Those conversations are always powerful.
“That’s the sort of ilk – and there’s more – but you’d be investigating someone like that.”
There are numerous other contenders for the position, such as Current Chief Tennis Officer Tom and player-turned-administrator Peter Johnston. Furthermore, the role of Tennis Australia CEO and Australian Open tournament director could be split into two.
There is yet to be any comment from Tennis Australia regarding Tiley’s future.
