Tiley joined Tennis Australia in 2005 as director of tennis,became the Melbourne grand slam’s tournament director a year later,and has also been the national body’s chief executive since 2013.
The Australian Open has already evolved significantly under Tiley’s leadership from just being about sport into an entertainment leviathan,and he hopes to soon offer players more than $100 million prizemoney (up from $86.5 million this year) – a sum already up for grabs across the summer.
The Melbourne Park precinct.Luis Ascui
The South African-born tennis executive told this masthead he had emerged from the “most difficult” period of his working life,the COVID-19 pandemic and Novak Djokovic’s deportation,intent on not only enhancing Australia’s slam but playing a role in revolutionising the entire circuit.
“I want the Australian Open to be the biggest sporting event,not just in the southern hemisphere,or in January,but the biggest sporting event in the world,” Tiley said.
“We’re going to expand the time we have,which we’ve already started doing with the opening week,and we’re going to be at the forefront of the technological experience. You’ve got to invest millions of dollars in digital transformation,and we’ve gone and hired the best to help us do that.
“I’m a bit impatient. People tell me you’ve got to wait years for technology,but I’d like it to be here tomorrow.
“I think when you do come on-site here,you’ve got to feel that you’re in the most special experience in the world,and the only way you do feel that is if I know exactly what you want. So,you’ll be creating a million different experiences. That’s a challenge for people because it’s not the way people normally think.”
In a wide-ranging interview,Tiley said:
Debate around a “premium tour” has heated up,after being bandied about for years,and Tiley is at the forefront of those wanting change but said all the sport’s stakeholders needed to be united.
“I think there needs to be the slams,the Masters and a few other events,” he said.
“The players need to get a break[between eight and 12 weeks] – they don’t get a break now – and the players need to make more money. I can’t tell you percentages because I don’t actually know. If I put a number on it,it would probably make everyone broke,the way I think about it.
“But I do think that it’s such a difficult sport to make a go. The players at the lower level need to make enough money that they can forge a career,and the players at the upper level need to become global superstars,so it’s a combination of prizemoney and what they make off the court.”
