Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley is in advanced talks to become the next CEO of the USTA, according to multiple people with knowledge of the talks.
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.
Tiley was chosen following a roughly six-month process, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the details are private. The USTA’s leadership vacancy came at a potential pivotal time for global tennis, with potential changes underway regarding labor, investment and consolidation.
Should he sign a contract in the next few weeks, it’s unclear if he would stay on in his current job through the Australian Open, which runs from Jan. 12 to Feb. 1 in Melbourne. Attempts to reach Tiley via email and LinkedIn weren’t returned; a representative for Elevate, which was retained in July to run the process, declined to comment.
“While we do not have any news to share at this time,” the USTA said in a statement, “we are confident that our next CEO will continue to build on the USTA’s long-standing commitment to growing the game of tennis in communities across the United States and elevating the U.S. Open as the biggest stage for our sport.”
The U.S. governing body has been run by two interim co-CEOs—board chairman Brian Vahaly and COO Andrea Hirsch—since former CEO Lew Sherr left to join the New York Mets earlier this year. Elevate ran the 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.
Earlier this year the group also announced an $800 million overhaul of the U.S. Open’s New York City venue, which will be funded via cash reserves and debt. In November it announced that Eric Butorac would be its next U.S. Open tournament director.
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.