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 However, it is understood Delanney has subsequently withdrawn his candidature in favor of Young.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.