Top Players Want Tiley As ATP Chief

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 26th June 2013

Top Players Want Tiley As ATP Chief |

The trio of world no.1 Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray chose the eve of Wimbledon to mount their campaign to have current Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley appointed as the ATP World Tour’s executive chairman and chief executive in succession to Brad Drewett.

The views are not shared by the ATP board, who had narrowed their short list to just two names; Florida-based Mark Young, current CEO of the Americas and the tour’s legal counsel, and Laurent Delanney, chief executive of the European office. However, it is understood Delanney has subsequently withdrawn his candidature in favor of Young.

Another American leader in a body that is currently European dominated is understood to not sit well with the trio of Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. The upshot was a stormy meeting on Sunday, after which Nadal, who was leading the advocacy of Tiley, was seen in heated debate with ATP officials.

Curiously neither Roger Federer, president of the ATP player council, or Gilles Simon, the council members designated with the responsibility of representing the interests of the leading players, were party to the discussions. Federer, as the other member of the sport’s current Big Four, is believed to be baffled why he was excluded from the discussions.

However the issue has been the talk at the Players’ Lawn at the All England Club where competitors, tour officials, agents and other power brokers in the game mingle freely and discuss matters of tennis state. The players have made it known that they would like to be able to select from a greater number of prospective leaders rather than those designated by the six man board.

Tiley, who is also the director of tennis of Tennis Australia, curried favor with the players before this year’s Australian Open when he pushed through a payment of A$1,000 (about £600) for every player in the men’s and women’s draws at the Australian Open as gratitude for traveling halfway around the world.

South African-born Tiley was head coach of University of Illinois Men’s Tennis Team that included ATP pros Amer Delic and Rajeev Ram. He went on to become South Africa’s Davis Cup captain and emigrated to Australia in 2005, initially to fill the post of Tennis Australia’s Director of Tennis. He is universally regarded as one of the most forward-thinking and popular administrators on the international circuit.

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.