By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE, Feb 25 (Reuters) – The United States Tennis Association has named Tennis Australia head Craig Tiley as its next CEO, bringing an end to the South African’s long and successful reign over the Australian Open Grand Slam.
The USTA said Tiley would formally assume his responsibilities in the coming months while working with Tennis Australia (TA) on finding a successor.
The 64-year-old replaces Lew Sherr, who stepped down from the position last year to join Major League Baseball’s New York Mets as the team’s president of business operations.
Tiley, who led TA for 13 years and the Australian Open for 20, said he was excited to return to U.S. tennis having been a successful college coach at the University of Illinois in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“There’s never really a good time to leave any place but Tennis Australia is in the best place it’s ever been,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
“I think there’s another opportunity as we work on global tennis collectively and in the U.S. work on helping them grow the game, specifically getting more people to play.”
The USTA said Tiley would help the governing body achieve its goal of growing participation to 35 million players by 2035.
Renowned for championing innovation and player-first initiatives, Tiley transformed the Australian Open into one of the world’s most successful sporting events, continually breaking attendance and revenue records.
Under his leadership, Melbourne Park underwent major renovations, adding a roof to the second showcourt Margaret Court Arena and boosting capacity.
The Australian Open was the first of the four Grand Slams to introduce electronic line calling in 2021 and in recent years it has turned into a three-week event, with entertainment and exhibition matches bringing crowds to qualifying week.
Tiley also expanded the tournament’s global footprint by bringing media production in-house.
“I think the ‘festivalisation’ of the event has been the most transformative,” he said.
With the tennis calendar packed by competing events and players frustrated by the demands of the schedule and their share of the game’s revenues, Tiley said tennis authorities needed to work together to come up with a better product.
“(Global tennis) needs to be better understood by the fans,” he said.
“If I asked what happened last week as a fan, could you tell me? Who won what event? Does it have a story? No.
“It needs to be better for the players. Do the players have a long enough off-season? No.
“Are more players making sufficient money? No.
“I will say that same thing no matter where I am, that the sport can be better aligned … It’s on us to do it.”
(Additional reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; editing by Pritha Sarkar and Peter Rutherford)
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