CRAIG TILEY
Director, Australian Open
CEO, Tennis Australia
Craig is recognized as one of Australia’s most innovative and forward thinking chief executives. His charismatic and passionate nature, together with his business acumen, has leveraged him to the forefront of sports administration and the leader behind Australia’s largest and most successful international sporting event.
Craig has been Tournament Director of the Australian Open since 2006 and was appointed CEO of Tennis Australia in 2013. He also serves as the Chair of the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS). His relationship with the playing group and relentless focus on improvement has transformed the Australian Open into one of the players’ and Australia’s favorite events.
The Australian Open has continually broken attendance records since 2006 and attracted more than 814,000 people from around Melbourne, Victoria and across the globe in 2020 alone. The event delivers more than $377 million in economic benefit to the state each year and reaches a global audience of more than 900 million households.
Craig has led the introduction of successful initiatives to shift the trending decline in participation with products such as Hot Shots, adult social play, the rollout of digital platforms to increase court accessibility and affiliation reform. Also, under his leadership, Australia’s different coaching groups were unified into a single organisation and an additional $300 million leveraged for local facilities.
Prior to joining Tennis Australia, Craig was Director of Tennis at the University of Illinois, where he led the fastest tennis program turnaround in US collegiate history, breaking a 100 year-old record for most consecutive wins.
He twice earned the US National Coach of the Year award, coached several top ten professional players and captained the South African Davis Cup team. His achievements have further been recognized by being elected to the College Tennis Hall of Fame (2010) and Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame (2017).