Craig Tiley Takes Over the USTA With Bigger Plans for the U.S. Open

As the U.S. Open main draw gets underway at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center following a bustling “Fan Week” of qualifiers, exhibition matches and family entertainment. A central figure of this year’s tournament is Craig Tiley, who arrived in New York last month as the new CEO of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), the nonprofit governing body behind American tennis and its crown-jewel Grand Slam.

Tiley arrives after 21 years at Tennis Australia, where he transformed the Australian Open into a commercial power and fan powerhouse. His cross-continental leap marks one of the most high-profile leadership shifts in modern tennis history.

The USTA’s mandate extends far beyond running a marquee two-week tournament; it oversees everything from community leagues and coaching programs to elite player development. It has an ambitious goal of reaching 35 million U.S. players by 2035. The target seems realistic enough, given that tennis participation among Americans surged 54 percent from 2019 to hit 27.3 million in 2025.

When the USTA announced Tiley’s appointment in February, board chair Brian Vahaly noted the search was aimed at accelerating that momentum, praising Tiley for bringing a “rare combination of global credibility at the highest level of the sport and a proven commitment to growing the game at the grassroots.”

Tiley has three simple goals: get more Americans playing tennis, push top U.S. talent onto podiums, and use major platforms like the U.S. Open to drive interest nationwide. On his first day, he signaled that he views the current boom as just the beginning, intending to push participation “beyond what anyone thought possible.”

A South African native, Tiley is no stranger to American tennis. He built his reputation as head coach of the University of Illinois men’s team from 1994 to 2005, capping his collegiate tenure with an undefeated national title run in 2003. Moving to Tennis Australia in 2005, he assumed the role of Australian Open tournament director the following year before taking on CEO duties in 2013.

He arrives at an organization already in the middle of a massive structural upgrade. The USTA is pouring $800 million into overhauling Arthur Ashe Stadium and building a $250 million Player Performance Center. For the 2026 tournament, courtside bowl seating expanded from 3,000 to 5,000, two new luxury suite levels opened, and concourse space on the promenade level grew by 40 percent. The blueprint, announced in May 2025 and slated for completion before the 2027 tournament, predates Tiley’s arrival, but mirrors the high-capacity infrastructure he favored in Melbourne.

The U.S. Open had also begun expanding its footprint prior to Tiley’s arrival. In 2025, nearly 240,000 fans attended the pre-tournament week for qualifying rounds and open practices paired with music and entertainment. This year’s expanded Fan Week features mixed doubles, player practices, interactive family setups and ticketed shows.

This template is familiar to Tiley. At Melbourne Park, he spent years pioneering the multi-week tournament model. His final Australian Open in January spanned 21 days, anchoring the main draw with a weeklong festival. That edition pulled in a record 1.37 million attendees, including nearly 218,000 during Opening Week alone, and generated A$722.32 million in economic output for the state of Victoria.

Tiley introduced fan-heavy events like the “Million Dollar 1 Point Slam,” a sudden-death elimination mixing amateurs and pros, alongside live entertainment. During his tenure down under, tennis participation grew by 30 percent over five years, digital court bookings tripled, and tennis rose to become Australia’s second-most popular sport behind soccer, according to the USTA.

Yet rapid expansion brings growing pains. Overcrowding at Tiley’s final Australian Open forced organizers to temporarily pause ground-pass sales on day one, leading Tennis Australia to cap lower-cost tickets for future events. New York faces a similar challenge of accommodating record-breaking crowds while preserving access on squeezed grounds.

For Tiley, the most important goal is the bigger picture. He insists the U.S. Open’s ultimate success rests on whether it leaves a lasting impression on the sport itself. “We have to remember, the reason why we do the U.S. Open is to promote and grow the sport,” Tiley said in March.