USTA Names Craig Tiley as Chief Executive Officer

Rumors have been swirling for months that Craig Tiley was the front runner for USTA CEO. Today, the USTA made it official with Tiley planning to assume his new responsibilities in the coming months.

Tiley is well known for driving monumental growth in tennis participation during his Tennis Australia tenure. His track record of success in grassroots tennis growth includes tennis becoming the second most participated sport behind soccer in Australia. In 2025, the sport had 8.3 percent growth, more than any other sport. He was always the obvious top choice with the USTA’s mission of growing participation over the next ten years.

“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,” said USTA Board Chair and interim Co-CEO Brian Vahaly. “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."

Under his leadership, Tiley has always been an advocate for innovation and player-first initiatives. His efforts this past year led the Australian Open to break all attendance and revenue records.

“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,” said Tiley. “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. 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.”

A growing challenge for participation is the competition from other racket sports. Tiley has championed a much different approach than the USTA by supporting the growth of non-tennis racket sports like padel, pickleball, beach tennis, and POP tennis. The belief is that getting rackets in hands is the number one priority, no matter what racket sport it is. It will be interesting to see how he brings this approach to the USTA and how open the USTA is to embracing it.