Australian Open’s Ex-Boss Reveals Melbourne Almost Lost Tournament to Sydney or Shanghai

Craig Tiley stepped down as Australian Open director and Tennis Australia chief executive to join the USTA as its chief executive.

Australian Open’s Ex-Boss Reveals Melbourne Almost Lost Tournament to Sydney or Shanghai

Craig Tiley (Image via X/Jose Moron)

In Short
  • Melbourne nearly lost the Australian Open to Sydney or Shanghai due to a lack of investment.
  • The Victorian government invested heavily in redevelopment to secure the tournament's future by 2017.
  • Craig Tiley has stepped down as Australian Open director to become chief executive of the USTA.

Craig Tiley, the former tournament director of the Australian Open and the former Tennis Australia chief executive, revealed in a recent interview how Melbourne was close to losing the Slam. Sydney, being the host of the Australian Open, perhaps, is not much unthinkable, but China hosting the first Major of the season is.

This could have happened back in 2017 had the Victorian government not heavily invested in further development. Tiley, during his interview with SEN’s Whateley, revealed that the government’s intervention made it possible to avoid giving the hosting rights to the rival cities.

If there was not an investment by the Victorian Government in further redevelopment, [the AO] would have been gone by 2017. [The] contract was up in 2016, and there was a great deal of interest from the city of Sydney, from the city of Shanghai.

Craig Tiley said

This season, the Australian Open drew around 1.4 million spectators. Because of its Grand Slam status, the tournament generates over $500 million annually for the Victorian economy.  

And you can see today why there was a great deal of interest with the impact that it has on the city. So, the Victorian government made a very good decision back then to make an investment, and there’s a billion-dollar investment that was made in the precinct. Half of it was specifically for tennis players, the other half was a general upgrade to the precinct. So that was close.

Craig Tiley added

In 2021, all matches used electronic line judging to reduce the number of on-court staff due to the pandemic, becoming the first Grand Slam tournament to use this technology.

There were also doubts about hosting the Australian Open during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the Australian government’s strict quarantine rules. The government did not even spare Melbourne’s most successful player, Novak Djokovic, who was unvaccinated, as they ended up deporting him from the country in 2022.

There were calls for Tiley to resign from his role because, despite the quarantine rules, as there were rumors that Tennis Australia had funded the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s legal and travel costs, which Tiley denied. Although the Serb was forced to skip the tournament, he returned the next year and won his 10th title by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Craig Tiley departs Australian Open for the US Open

Craig Tiley became the Australian Open’s director in 2016, and since then, though there were ups and downs, the tournament only expanded, with innovation being one of his major goals. This year saw the inaugural Million Dollar One Point Slam, which was won by amateur Jordan Smith by defeating Taiwanese WTA ace Joanna Garland.

Craig Tiley (2)
Craig Tiley (Image via X/Benoit Maylin)

Toward the end of February, it was announced that Tiley had stepped down as Australian Open director and joined the United States Tennis Association (USTA) as its chief executive.

I’ve long admired the organization’s leadership in growing the game across the United States and the extraordinary success of the US Open. I’m excited to return to American tennis and to work alongside our leadership locally and nationally to continue building the sport’s reach, impact, and future.

Craig Tiley said in a statement

Although Tiley is no longer the Australian Open’s director, he had floated the idea of making the WTA players play five sets from the quarterfinals onward, thanks to a thrilling final that saw Elena Rybakina clinch a three-set win over World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka to win her career’s second Grand Slam title.

Tiley was also the head coach of the University of Illinois men’s tennis team (between 1994 and 2005). He will replace Lew Sherr after the latter joined Major League Baseball’s New York Mets.

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