Leaving Tennis Australia after 21 years, Craig Tiley began his tenure as the CEO of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) on July 20. The 65-year-old had previously served as the CEO of Tennis Australia and the Director of the Australian Open. Having done so, he will now help grow tennis in the USA and clearly outlined his goals for USTA’s future from the get-go.

“The USTA has created a great platform to inspire further growth in tennis participation,” he said on his first day in the office as USTA’s CEO. “We want to work with everyone within the tennis family to grow the sport beyond what anyone thought possible.”

It was earlier reported that Tiley had received an offer from the USTA in late 2025 and the person who was integral in bringing Tiley to the USTA is the interim Co-CEO Brian Vahaly. These reports were eventually proven to be true as he announced his departure from Tennis Australia on February 24, 2026. Before leaving, he helped the organization find his successor, who proved to be ex-NRL CEO Andrew Abdo.

Tiley was approached by the USTA after seeing the way he transformed the Australian Open during his 20-year tenure as its director, in hopes that he could do the same for the US Open as well. He played a major role in doubling the Grand Slam’s overall attendance to over 1.4 million. In comparison, the tournament had been attended by a little over 550,000 people in 2007, a year after Tiley became the director.

Tiley also played a big role in modernizing the facilities that were previously on offer at Melbourne Park. Notably, he was the one who developed the ‘One Point Slam’, which is an exhibition event that is held at the Rod Laver Arena during the opening week of the tournament.

The 48-player bracket comprises 12 ATP and 12 WTA players each, eight amateur state champions, eight celebrity wildcards, and eight fans. While amateurs are granted two serves, the pros don’t get more than one.

The latest edition of the event saw amateur player Jordan Smith come out on top and was awarded the cash prize of AUD$1 million. Having begun in 2025, the event is already a hit among the general public and is attended by large crowds whenever it’s held.

While there is no doubt that Tiley has significantly improved the situation at the Australian Open, there were areas where he wasn’t able to deliver as the CEO of Tennis Australia. One such area is the development of Australian players.

Australian players failed to reach new heights in the rankings under Craig Tiley

Australia has been a country that has developed some incredible tennis talents throughout this century. But the situation of their players has gotten quite concerning, especially in the last few years.

Notably, no Australian player has managed to win a Grand Slam since Ashleigh Barty, who triumphed at the 2022 Australian Open. If we keep only the ATP players in consideration, then the last Australian man to win a Grand Slam was Lleyton Hewitt, who won the singles title at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships.

Currently, Alex de Minaur (No. 5) is the only Australian player to be present in the top 80 on the ATP rankings. The second-best Australian player is James Duckworth, who is ranked No. 82.

When it comes to the WTA side, no Australian is present in the top 60. Daria Kasatkina is the highest-ranked Australian at No. 62, followed by Kimberly Birrell at No. 65. Talia Gibson, Maya Joint and Ajla Tomljanovic are the other three players present in the top 100.

It won’t be wrong to say that Tiley will have to do a much better job at developing American tennis talents if he wants to spend a long time at the USTA.