Craig Tiley has a new task: Get 35 million Americans playing tennis by 2035. There probably isn’t a better person for the job

Craig Tiley is a bullet point kind of guy.

When he’s asked to describe his new job as CEO of the USTA, the 64-year-old South African quickly divides the responsibilities into “three pillars”:

• Get more people in the U.S. to play the game
• Get the country’s elite players to perform their best
• Provide the platforms, like the US Open and other pro events, that will grow the sport

“My mind works very simply,” Tiley told Tennis Channel on Wednesday at Indian Wells. “I need a lot of clarity on things.”

A little later, when he was asked how he hopes to improve the fan experience at the Open, he refers to his goals as the “Four S’s,” and briskly runs them down:

“Screens, seats, shade, and space. If you cover those four, the fans are very happy.”

As someone who has attended the US Open every year since 1983, and seen the crowds on the grounds grow by three-fold, I’m not going to argue with him.

Tiley, of course, has been hired to do a lot more than plant trees and put up Jumbotrons. His “three pillars” may sound simple and clear, but it encompasses virtually all of U.S. tennis, from how many Americans are picking up a racquet each year, to how many Top 100 pros the country is producing, to how many Honey Deuces are downed at the Open each night.

Does that sound like more than one human can handle? I’d say yes, except that Tiley has had the same job description at Tennis Australia since 2013. He began as the head of TA’s player-development program in 2005, added the title of Australian Open tournament director in 2006, and became CEO in 2013.

Despite the job’s seemingly unwieldy scope, Tiley has had a track record—for the most part—of success. That’s especially true at the Australian Open, which has shed its reputation as the runt of the majors.

Tiley put a roof on Margaret Court Arena, introduced electronic line calling, increased prize money from $20 million in 2007 to $115 million this year, and watched attendance double in just a decade, from 700,000 in 2016 to 1.4 million today.

Traditionalists Down Under, like traditionalists everywhere, haven’t loved all of the expansion and congestion. And this year the players staged a mini-revolt over the number of cameras that track them behind the scenes at Melbourne Park. But Tiley has also managed to keep grounds-pass prices reasonable, and the AO was the first Slam to allow fans to go to their seats between games, rather than having to wait for changeovers. He’s a promoter who wants to put on a show for as many people as possible, but he’s also a tennis person. In 2003, he coached the University of Illinois men’s team to a 32-0 record and the NCAA title.

All of this has helped make Tiley the most visible, and possibly the most influential, executive in tennis. Under him, Tennis Australia was the first federation to adopt the UTR rating system. It was an early investor in Laver Cup. It helped create the 1-Point Slam. And when rumors of a new “Premier” tour floated a few years ago, Tiley was at the center of those, too. He looks buttoned up and sounds polished and rational, but he’s not conservative when it comes to new ideas.

In one obvious case, though, Tiley’s ambition backfired. In 2022, he arranged for Novak Djokovic to skirt the country’s Covid-vaccination rules and enter the Australian Open. The ensuing saga ended with Djokovic deported and Tiley villainized. Four years later, though, with Djokovic back in the local fans’ good graces, it can feel like an uproar from a different era. I doubt Tiley would do the same thing again, but at one level it shows how far he’ll go to make an event a success.

Which leads us to the question at hand: Is he a good fit as CEO of the USTA?

Let’s start with the US Open. Once upon a time, it was the leader in innovation, pioneering equal pay, night matches, hard courts, final-set tiebreakers, and a festival atmosphere. Under Tiley, the Australian Open has taken over that role—or at least made itself the equal of the US Open.

Screens, seats, shade, and space. If you cover those four, the fans are very happy. Craig Tiley, on improving the fan experience at the US Open

Does it make sense for him to try to be an expansionist again in New York? The scene at Flushing Meadows these days is already a boozy party, the grounds are already packed, the tournament already lasts three weeks, and prize money and ticket prices have already skyrocketed, with no diminution in demand.

None of that seems like it will keep Tiley from trying to push the boundaries further. His latest ideas include making women’s matches best-of-five from the quarterfinals on, and eliminating the umpire’s chair in favor of more electronic officiating. Will he also want to cut grounds-pass prices, the way he did in Melbourne? That sounds good in theory, but would it lead to more congestion, or difficulty securing tickets? Maybe he’s on to something with his relatively simple “4 S’s”: More seats, screens, shade and space—especially the latter two—might be what the Open needs most now.

Whatever he proposes for the Open, I’m guessing Tiley and the USTA will be on the same page. But will the same be true for the other two pillars of his job, producing top players and growing participation numbers?

The USTA has had a lot of success putting players into the Top 100 over the past decade. More recently, though, it has cut back on its commitment to elite performance. There’s some skepticism in the organization about how much the pros really drive rec participation. Instead, the USTA has emphasized tennis as “the healthiest sport,” put money toward getting it into schools, and unveiled a program to recruit more coaches.

We’ll have to see where Tiley comes down on the pro vs. grassroots question. On the one hand, he coached players like Kevin Anderson, Amer Delic and Rajeev Ram in college, and he got his start Down Under in elite player development. On the other hand, he has been criticized for prioritizing the Australian Open over everything else, and the country has lagged behind the U.S., Italy and even Canada at the elite level in recent years.

Tiley’s ultimate goal, as dictated by the USTA, is to have 35 million people in the U.S. playing the sport by 2035. Right now that number is 27 million and rising. Since the pandemic, tennis has grown significantly in Australia (by 30 percent) and the U.S. (by 54 percent), and shows no signs of stopping.

“It’s a big ask,” Tiley says, “but there’s a way forward, everyone working together, keeping the politics out of it.”

Tiley doesn’t leave Australia without his critics. But anyone who has had that much power for 13 years isn’t going to make everybody happy. I think the mix he brings—forward-thinking ringmaster, lifelong tennis guy, track record of success—fits the USTA’s needs right now.

“We have to remember, the reason why we do the US Open is to promote and grow the sport.”

That’s a good bullet point to start on.