Tiley came under intense scrutiny when the Australian Open was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 tournament was delayed – held in February instead – and required tennis players to undergo quarantine beforehand in Australia. The following year the tournament was overshadowed by the Novak Djokovic deportation saga.
Novak Djokovic with Tiley after the 2021 Australian Open men’s final.Credit: Getty Images
Tiley joined TA as director of tennis in 2005 before becoming the Melbourne grand slam’s tournament director the following year.
He has openly been driven by the lofty ambition to transform the Australian Open into the biggest sporting event on the planet. Organisers are close to awarding players $100 million in prizemoney, an amount that has risen sharply from $76.5 million in 2023, to $86.5 million for the 2024 event and $96.5 million this year.
Nearly two years ago, Tiley told this masthead he had emerged from the “most difficult” period of his working life – the pandemic and Djokovic’s deportation – intent on not only enhancing Australia’s slam, but playing a role in revolutionising the entire circuit.
In the same interview, Tiley said he did not believe in putting a time limit on a leadership position and would remain in his dual role in Australia until he no longer had the energy or motivation, or if he felt he was no longer innovating enough.
“I want the Australian Open to be the biggest sporting event, not just in the southern hemisphere, or in January, but the biggest sporting event in the world,” he said.
“We’re going to expand the time we have, which we’ve already started doing with the opening week, and we’re going to be at the forefront of the technological experience. You’ve got to invest millions of dollars in digital transformation.
“I think when you do come on-site here, you’ve got to feel that you’re in the most special experience in the world, and the only way you do feel that is if I know exactly what you want. So, you’ll be creating a million different experiences. That’s a challenge for people because it’s not the way people normally think.”
Tiley is a former South African Davis Cup captain and highly successful college coach at the University of Illinois in the United States. He led the “Fighting Illini” to the NCAA title in 2003 and was inducted into the school’s athletics hall of fame in 2017.
Watch all the Australian Open action live on Nine, 9Now and Stan from Sunday, January 18.
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