The USTA has formally named Craig Tiley as its next CEO, a reshuffling of the global tennis leadership at a time of looming changes in the sport’s labor, investment and supervisory structures.
A lifelong tennis player, coach and executive, Tiley has been the tournament director for the Australian Open since 2006 and has run the Australian tennis governing body since 2013. That experience dovetails with the setup at the USTA, which owns and operates the U.S. Open, the tennis season’s fourth and final Grand Slam.
“Craig brings a rare combination of global credibility at the highest level of the sport and a proven commitment to growing the game at the grassroots."
Brian Vahaly
USTA Board Chair and Interim Co-CEO
“That balance is exactly what this moment requires.”
Sportico was first to report that Tiley was in advanced talks to take the role three months ago.
Tiley will be tasked with leveraging the U.S. Open’s growing business to expand the game’s reach. The USTA has a goal to reach 35 million players by 2035 (it’s 27.3 million right now) and is in the middle of an $800 million overhaul of the U.S. Open’s New York City venue, which will be funded via cash reserves and debt.
More broadly, Tiley has firsthand experience in the market forces reshaping global tennis. In 2025 the PTPA, a tennis player trade group, added the sport’s four Grand Slams to its ongoing antitrust litigation against the WTA and ATP tours. The Tiley-led Australian Open broke from the other three majors by settling its portion, agreeing to cooperate in various ways.
It’s unclear if Tiley’s hiring indicates that the organizers of the U.S. Open, which has fought to dismiss the lawsuit, might take a different approach. A representative for USTA declined to comment.
The U.S. governing body has been run by two interim co-CEOs—board chairman Vahaly and COO Andrea Hirsch—since former CEO Lew Sherr left to join the New York Mets last year. In November it announced that Eric Butorac would be its next U.S. Open tournament director. Elevate ran the CEO search process alongside a search committee that included Vahaly, Hirsch and a handful of other USTA board members.
Sherr earned more than $1.5 million from the USTA in fiscal 2023, according to the group’s most recent available tax return. For fiscal 2024, the USTA reported record $623.8 million in revenue. Tennis Australia, by contrast, reported about $393.2 million ($590.5 million AUS) in its 2024 fiscal year.
About 90% of that USTA revenue comes from the U.S. Open. The three-week tournament accounted for $559.6 million in revenue and $282.2 million in event expenses, according to audited financials, implying an operating profit of about $277.4 million. Those funds are used to fund other USTA endeavors, such as amateur tournaments, coaching workshops and development.
A native South African, Tiley joined Tennis Australia in 2005 as director of tennis. He has been Australian Open tournament director since 2006, and took over as CEO in 2013.
Before joining Tennis Australia, he was head tennis coach at the University of Illinois. He led the Fighting Illini to the NCAA title in 2003 and six Big Ten tournament titles. He was inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame in 2017. He also served as captain of South Africa’s Davis Cup team from 1998-2001.
