Craig Tiley Reveals How He Will Improve Tennis in USA After Becoming New USTA CEO

Craig Tiley aims to make the US Open a fan-friendly event after becoming the Chief Executive of the USTA.

Craig Tiley Reveals How He Will Improve Tennis in USA After Becoming New USTA CEO

Craig Tiley (Image via X/Benoit Maylin)

In Short
  • Craig Tiley aims to enhance the US Open experience by focusing on more screens, shade, seating, and space for fans.
  • He plans to increase regular tennis participation in the US from 27 million to 35 million by 2035.
  • Tiley emphasizes creating a player-friendly environment and addressing concerns like high ticket prices and marijuana odors at the tournament.

Craig Tiley has outlined the ambitious changes he hopes to bring to the US Tennis just weeks after being appointed the new chief executive of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), having spent 13 years as Tennis Australia Boss. The 64-year-old replaced Lew Sherr, who joined Major League Baseball’s New York Mets.

Tiley, a South African-born, led so many innovations during his time as Tennis Australia Chief Executive. He championed the expansion of the tournament to a 15-day event, which gave players enough time to rest before taking to the court. He also hosted the inaugural Million Dollar One Point Slam last year.

He made the exhibition tournament more attractive this year, and it broke attendance and revenue records. Also, the Australian Open recorded 1.4 million fans at the complex, a clear rise from 700,000 it was in 2016. He also increased prize money from.$20 million in 2007 to $115 million this year.

Besides that, Tiley put a roof on Margaret Court Arena and introduced an electronic line-calling system, which increased transparency during games. He joined Tennis Australia as player development director in 2005 and became Australian Open tournament director in 2006 and Chief Executive in 2013.

Tiley’s innovative changes made the Australian Open one of the most anticipated tournaments of the year. He’s now focused on bringing his expertise and experience to the US Open. During an interview with Tennis Channel, the 64-year-old revealed that he’s focused on four points that will make fans enjoy the Grand Slam tournament:

The fan experience boils down to doing it all the time. I always talk about the four keys: more screens, more shade, more seating, and more space. If you cover these four things, fans will be very happy, so we will continue to focus on that, even though the US Open already does many things excellently. We need to continue self-assessment, understand exactly what fans want, as everything will be centered around them and the players.

This year’s Australian Open was highlighted in the semi-finals of the men’s singles, where Carlos Alcaraz took on Alexander Zverev for more than five hours, and Jannik Sinner fell to Novak Djokovic after over four hours. The women’s and men’s singles witnessed first-time champions at the Rod Laver Arena.

Craig Tiley hopes 27 million Americans will play tennis regularly by 2035

One of the major complaints from players during the US Open is the smell of marijuana around the complex. Several players, including Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, and Maria Sakkari, have highlighted that they find it nauseating. Also, the tournament dynamic ticket pricing plays a role in staggering cost, particularly in the latter stages of the event.

Craig Tiley
Craig Tiley (Image via X/Jose Moron)

The US Open is one of the few tournaments that often tries to invite celebrities, including the country’s president, to boost attention, but that has also driven the cost of tickets very high for fans. During the aforementioned interview, Craig Tiley noted that one of his goals is to create a player-friendly environment at the US Open:

We want to ensure we remain a player-friendly organization. On the participation side, there are now over 27 million people regularly playing tennis in the United States, which is splendid. It is an ambitious goal, but the aim is to reach 35 million by 2035; we have a path to achieve it if we all work together, putting politics aside and focusing on getting people to pick up a racket and play.

Last year, Carlos Alcaraz claimed the US Open men’s singles after beating Jannik Sinner in the final. It was the Spaniard’s second title at the tournament. In the women’s singles, Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended the title after beating American and home favorite Amanda Anisimova in straight sets.

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