After the furore of 2022, Oz Open boss Tiley is looking forward to welcoming Novak
A year ago, Craig Tiley was caught in the war of elements. Novak Djokovic was deported, sending the pandemic-savaged opening Grand Slam of the season into a tailspin. Tennis was in a tizzy.
Sport came to the rescue, home-crowd hero Ashleigh Barty and Rafael Nadal were crowned champions in Melbourne. An epic fightback by the Spaniard bringing the curtain down on the fortnight.
In an interaction with Indian media earlier this week, Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia and Tournament Director, pointed at Melbourne’s clear blue skies, underlining his sunny attitude. In an exclusive chat with TOI, Tiley focused on delivering a great event, starting January 16, saying, the strength of the draws in next month’s championship was better than ever.
Excerpts:
The Djokovic saga of 2022 has nagged the sport for the last 12 months…
The last two years have been very difficult for everyone across the world, not just the Australian Open. If you take a step back and look, those circumstances were beyond our control. That situation, would we have preferred for it not to happen? Absolutely. We would’ve preferred for it not to happen. Did we do everything we could’ve possibly done at the time? Yes, we did.
We are focused on welcoming Novak back. He arrives next week. He’s playing an event in Adelaide and then plays the Australian Open. I talked to him a lot during the year, he’s a great champion. He’s playing the best tennis and is going to be the favourite coming in. He’s popular in Australia, he has a big fan base here.
Daniil Medvedev was disappointed with the crowd at the AO last year, should crowds be coded? Controlled?
I’m the wrong person for this question. I think there are parameters within which crowds need to behave. Anytime there’s a member of the crowd disrupting the safety or enjoyment of someone sitting next to them, they should be removed. I believe that you should be able to enjoy the sport. You should be able to shout what you want to shout, have a good time, get excited. The reason why I said I was the wrong person is because I believe cheering should be there the whole time (in tennis), not just between points. The crowd should be embraced, there should be an authentic voice to their experience. I also think there should be a framework (for behaviour) and if that is disrupted that individual should be removed because they are not there to enjoy the tennis, they are there just to be disruptive.
The Oz Open will be the first Grand Slam following the retirements of Roger Federer and Serena Williams…
I’m very excited about the upcoming generation, they are different. If you take the men’s side with (Stef) Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Nick Kyrgios… All very different people. On the women’s side, there’s Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka… It’s such an eclectic mix in the top-10, top-20. This generation more than ever before are very different from each other and that provides a lot of excitement. In this past year, while Swiatek has been the most dominant, Alcaraz has had a good year. I’m really excited about the game. Remember, there was a time when we were thinking Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were the best-ever and no one was going to replace them, then Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal came along, the Williams sisters came along… Now everyone is saying Federer and Serena are finished, what’s going to happen? There will be a new generation that’ll come through.
The lead-up to the Australian Open must be an incredibly hectic time…
I’m lucky that I have a great team, we employ about 650 people who work full-time and another 12,000 that work on the event seasonally. You have to manage yourself, manage your health. I’m generally a very active person. I make a point of using my two legs to get everywhere as much as possible and that helps.
There’s already the late night and early mornings, but nothing like how it’ll be in a week’s time when sometimes it will be all-night. That’s part of the deal, we all know that. A lot of it is mental too. I always tell people the one thing you have control of every single time, is how you respond. The choice of your response weighs on your health. I personally get a big kick of seeing people do well, see people have a good time, it gives you a lot of energy.
There’s a concentrated effort by some Indian players to get going at least in doubles, I wonder if you’re aware of it?
There’s a great deal of potential for tennis in India. India has the climate, history and in many cases the resources to have the best players in the world. I always challenge India to become that (tennis) nation. I know of the concentrated effort in doubles, I’m of the view that there should be a concentrated effort in having great singles and doubles players. Also having a great eco system of the game, a club culture and a great pathway.
(Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the Australian Open, starting January 16, 2023)
A year ago, Craig Tiley was caught in the war of elements. Novak Djokovic was deported, sending the pandemic-savaged opening Grand Slam of the season into a tailspin. Tennis was in a tizzy.
Sport came to the rescue, home-crowd hero Ashleigh Barty and Rafael Nadal were crowned champions in Melbourne. An epic fightback by the Spaniard bringing the curtain down on the fortnight.
In an interaction with Indian media earlier this week, Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia and Tournament Director, pointed at Melbourne’s clear blue skies, underlining his sunny attitude. In an exclusive chat with TOI, Tiley focused on delivering a great event, starting January 16, saying, the strength of the draws in next month’s championship was better than ever.
Excerpts:
The Djokovic saga of 2022 has nagged the sport for the last 12 months…
The last two years have been very difficult for everyone across the world, not just the Australian Open. If you take a step back and look, those circumstances were beyond our control. That situation, would we have preferred for it not to happen? Absolutely. We would’ve preferred for it not to happen. Did we do everything we could’ve possibly done at the time? Yes, we did.
We are focused on welcoming Novak back. He arrives next week. He’s playing an event in Adelaide and then plays the Australian Open. I talked to him a lot during the year, he’s a great champion. He’s playing the best tennis and is going to be the favourite coming in. He’s popular in Australia, he has a big fan base here.
Daniil Medvedev was disappointed with the crowd at the AO last year, should crowds be coded? Controlled?
I’m the wrong person for this question. I think there are parameters within which crowds need to behave. Anytime there’s a member of the crowd disrupting the safety or enjoyment of someone sitting next to them, they should be removed. I believe that you should be able to enjoy the sport. You should be able to shout what you want to shout, have a good time, get excited. The reason why I said I was the wrong person is because I believe cheering should be there the whole time (in tennis), not just between points. The crowd should be embraced, there should be an authentic voice to their experience. I also think there should be a framework (for behaviour) and if that is disrupted that individual should be removed because they are not there to enjoy the tennis, they are there just to be disruptive.
The Oz Open will be the first Grand Slam following the retirements of Roger Federer and Serena Williams…
I’m very excited about the upcoming generation, they are different. If you take the men’s side with (Stef) Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Nick Kyrgios… All very different people. On the women’s side, there’s Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka… It’s such an eclectic mix in the top-10, top-20. This generation more than ever before are very different from each other and that provides a lot of excitement. In this past year, while Swiatek has been the most dominant, Alcaraz has had a good year. I’m really excited about the game. Remember, there was a time when we were thinking Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were the best-ever and no one was going to replace them, then Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal came along, the Williams sisters came along… Now everyone is saying Federer and Serena are finished, what’s going to happen? There will be a new generation that’ll come through.
The lead-up to the Australian Open must be an incredibly hectic time…
I’m lucky that I have a great team, we employ about 650 people who work full-time and another 12,000 that work on the event seasonally. You have to manage yourself, manage your health. I’m generally a very active person. I make a point of using my two legs to get everywhere as much as possible and that helps.
There’s already the late night and early mornings, but nothing like how it’ll be in a week’s time when sometimes it will be all-night. That’s part of the deal, we all know that. A lot of it is mental too. I always tell people the one thing you have control of every single time, is how you respond. The choice of your response weighs on your health. I personally get a big kick of seeing people do well, see people have a good time, it gives you a lot of energy.
There’s a concentrated effort by some Indian players to get going at least in doubles, I wonder if you’re aware of it?
There’s a great deal of potential for tennis in India. India has the climate, history and in many cases the resources to have the best players in the world. I always challenge India to become that (tennis) nation. I know of the concentrated effort in doubles, I’m of the view that there should be a concentrated effort in having great singles and doubles players. Also having a great eco system of the game, a club culture and a great pathway.
(Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the Australian Open, starting January 16, 2023)
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