The end of the Tiley era: Australian tennis braces for major power shift

Craig Tiley speaking at the Australian Open. (Getty/Morgan Hancock)

The fact that the Australian Open is the only one of the four Grand Slams where the Tournament Director is also the national association's CEO surely means that when the all-powerful Craig Tiley announces as early as next week that he is joining the USTA, Tennis Australia will be left with two key roles to fill.

Few administrators are as closely identified with an event as Tiley, who has run the AO since 2006, and led the governing body as well since succeeding Steve Wood in 2013 - and that is by design, not by chance.

And the fact that Tiley has refused to kill speculation around his imminent exit, with comments including "everything has an end", has made this a major talking point and compelling subplot to the main event at Melbourne Park.

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Having been recruited from the University of Illinois in 2005 as Director of Tennis by the newly-arrived Wood and president/chair Geoff Pollard, then moved inexorably up to his current role in charge of pretty much everything, Tiley is hoping that delaying his official announcement will keep the focus on the tournament itself.

But the indications, from multiple sources, are that a deal has been done.

If so, where to next for Aussie tennis?

Few canvassed by this writer over recent weeks believe a replacement would or should continue to do both jobs, with the concentration of power in the TA kingdom, where the AO is the crown jewel, having been queried in the past.

Wood, now the honorary chairman of the board at Kooyong, declined to be drawn on the subject, however, and Pollard, who stepped down in 2010 when the roles were still separate, stopped short of saying a division of duties was ideal.

"Certainly there were two different people in my day, and the Tournament Director reported to the CEO," Pollard told The First Serve.

"I think it just depends on the person or people that you're getting. Because of the amount of time that you spend overseas and things like that, I thought you needed two different people, but it's obviously worked with Craig doing both.

"So it'll depend on what sort of candidates they get, their backgrounds in running events and running a tennis organisation."

For both positions, clearly, there will be an array of candidates from inside and out.

Current Chief Tennis Officer Tom Larner is the leading internal CEO prospect, as the former Chief Operating Officer and Tennis Queensland boss who has effectively been Tiley's lieutenant and would, presumably, be endorsed by the outgoing tsar.

As one of the plum - and highest-paid - executive jobs in Australian sport, a worldwide search would surely attract a quality field. Then again, it was not too long ago that the AFL supposedly cast a wide net for a replacement for the charismatic Gil McLaughlin before promoting Andrew Dillon from the office down the hall.

The other tennis name most often mentioned is Craig Morris, the well-liked Australian who has spent the past decade at the USTA and is currently its CEO of Coaching, having worked in multiple roles at TA for almost 14 years and at the AIS before that.

Morris was at Melbourne Park during the AO's first week and a magnet for questions about his interest in the post, while remaining determinedly non-committal before jumping back on the plane to Florida.

Potential tournament directors? 

Wimbledon is a different beast, given it's owned and run by a private club rather than a national association, but if the lead from other majors is followed, with Roland-Garros helmed by former world No.1 Amelie Mauresmo and the US Open by Eric Butorac, then ex-pros will be prominent in considerations, as part of a growing trend towards retired players occupying senior event and player-facing roles (see James Blake, Tommy Haas, Feliciano López, David Ferrer, Laura Robson etc), with others doing plenty of the heavy lifting.

Similarly, Alicia Molik has impressed in her three-year tenure as Adelaide International Tournament Director, while Brazilian Andre Sa's growing presence within TA - he has been Head of Player Liason since 2019 - continues to attract comment. Not least from those with an appetite for a pair of Australian appointments for the forthcoming vacancies.

Todd Woodbridge, inevitably, is in the conversation, but would seem a long shot given the high-profile former doubles great's full and lucrative book of commitments with broadcast rights holder Nine and elsewhere. Former Newcombe Medallist Sam Groth is also back in the picture, interestingly, as the end of his state political career looms.

Otherwise, the experienced and capable Peter Johnston, a player-turned-administrator and former deputy TD under Paul McNamee and then Tiley, who runs WTA and ATP events in Asia, plus the reborn Kooyong Classic, has a strong track record and broad-based support.

Another who has shown he can run a successful event is Tennis Queensland and Brisbane International boss Cameron Pearson, who could potentially be part of a double-act with Larner.

Meanwhile, all of this is playing out against the backdrop of a developing schism between Tennis Australia and at least two of its Grand Slam brethren over the handling of the lawsuit lodged by the Professional Tennis Players Association.

In some respects, the sport is also far from united domestically, with a clear divide between those on either side of the tent flap: the super-well-paid in the favoured group versus those, many of them respected stalwarts of the local game, who feel underutilised and disenfranchised.

And also concerned about the direction of the player development pathway, which extends to some senior staff appointments, and the focus on commercial events rather than, well, tennis. There seems to be little appetite to address issues such as Lleyton Hewitt's problematic Davis Cup captaincy, for example, too.

Still, many are asking: why would Tiley want to leave TA, where his power, influence and autonomy are absolute, for the dysfunctional and politically fraught USTA environment?

Yes, it's a larger stage and scale, a more prestigious gig; they'll pay even bigger bucks (and in USD), Mrs Tiley (Ali) is American, and, after 20 years at TA, it might be time for new challenges. But a man in complete control of all things TA/AO would be entering a very different, high-pressure environment at the age of 63.

Regardless, Tiley has unquestionably been the driver of the AO's extraordinary development and the one-time poor relation of the Slams' bold quest to innovate, expand and exert itself as not just an equal partner but a key player, globally.

Asked about the CEO's legacy, the pair who chose him from that shortlist of two as Director of Tennis back in 2005 remain firmly on team Tiley, with Pollard lauding his impact on the tournament's exponential growth.

"He's a global icon; just a magic job Craig's been doing and still doing," added Wood. "I know that he's widely revered in global tennis, and he's the one who has made a lot of innovations happen, so I'm not surprised that he's being pursued by others."

Still, if these are not the first reports from across the decades that Tiley has been a recruiting target, however accurate or not, the consensus has been for some time that this seems different. That it might really be happening this time. 

"It feels like this last big hurrah; that he's putting on a show that can never be repeated," said one well-connected Australian tennis identity, noting the record crowds and remarkable success of so-called Opening Week, Roger Federer's farewell, Andre Agassi's return, Ash Barty's on-court cameo, etc.

"It just feels like he's going out with a bang."

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