Craig Tiley has been announced as the new chief executive of The United States Tennis Association and is set to leave his role with Tennis Australia.
Tiley had been the CEO of Tennis Australia since 2013, having served as the tournament director of the Australian Open since 2006. He joined Tennis Australia in 2005 as the director of player development.
The South African, who coached the Illinois US college tennis team from 1993 to 2005, will begin his role at the USTA later in 2026.
Tiley said: “I am truly honoured to step into the role of CEO of the USTA later this year. I’ve long admired the organisation’s leadership in growing the game across the United States and the extraordinary success of the US Open.
“I’m excited to return to American tennis and to work alongside our leadership locally and nationally to continue building the sport’s reach, impact, and future.
“Tennis is one of the few truly global sports that you can play for a lifetime, at any level, and that’s part of its magic. It has an incredible ability to bring people together — players, fans, communities — across countries and cultures.
“I firmly believe the opportunity ahead for our sport is enormous. We’re moving from engaging millions who attend events live to connecting with billions of fans around the world digitally, year-round.
Tennis News
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic? Former world No 3 names toughest opponent and gives GOAT verdict
Emma Raducanu’s mega new sponsorship deal ‘makes a lot of sense’, according to former British No 1
Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.
“If we continue to innovate and tell the story of our sport in a compelling way, tennis will only grow stronger, more connected, and more impactful in the years ahead.”
In a statement, USTA chair and co-CEO Brian Vahaly said: “From the very beginning of this process, our top priority was identifying the right leader to accelerate participation growth and help us achieve our goal of reaching 35 million players by 2035.
“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. That balance is exactly what this moment requires.
“As we look to fully leverage the power of the US Open as a platform for inspiration and growth, Craig’s leadership and understanding of the entire tennis ecosystem will be invaluable.
“We are excited to build on our current momentum of six consecutive years of participation growth, and we are confident he is the right leader to guide American tennis into its next chapter.”
It was reported during the 2026 Australian Open last month, and also earlier this month, that Tiley would be leaving his role at Tennis Australia to join the USTA.
During an interview with We Are Tennis, Tiley was asked about the reports and stated: “I will say it’s not new, this conversation. It’s happened before. It happened in the previous role.
“There has been a lot of speculation about it, and I just made a conscious decision to not fuel it, not make comment on it or fuel it.
“We have just finished, as you mentioned at the beginning, arguably the most successful lead-in to the event. I still look at that as just touching the surface, and the two weeks of the AO was driven by the performance of the players and the fun of the fans, and I want to completely focus on that.”
The post Australian Open blow confirmed as United States Tennis Association makes big announcement appeared first on Tennis365.
Leave a Reply