US OPEN

August 29, 2026

Craig Tiley

Eric Butorac

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all for coming today. I am Brendan McIntyre, head of US Open communications and content. Today for our pretournament press conference we will have USTA's CEO, Craig Tiley, and US Open Tournament Director, Eric Butorac.

Questions, please.

Q. You've given the players a huge amount of money for this year's championships. We saw the player protests at the French Open and at Wimbledon. Was that part of the thinking to try and dissuade that, give them a lot of money to stop any protests? Is there going to be more money in the next five, ten years, do you think?

CRAIG TILEY: Well, firstly, everyone, good afternoon. It's 2 minutes past 12:00, so we are in the afternoon. Thanks for coming.

I think the USTA last year did a 20% increase on the player compensation, and this year we've made another decision to give a fairly significant increase to the players on top of that, including in it a contribution, an additional $2 million contribution for -- the players all need to decide how they want to spend it, whether it be around player welfare or whatever initiatives they want to do.

Then on top of it, we've also added additional player gift of an Uber voucher of $2,500 and an American Express card with $1,000 credit on it. So we're giving them additional things on top of the total compensation of 108.

I think those of you who know me well and know Eric know that we are player focused. I've always believed the players should be paid well, and I think they should be paid their fair share. The role I played in my previous role was the same thing. We pushed the player compensation package at the Australian Open. The same thing has happened here and will continue to happen at the USTA.

Obviously the amount is not something we determine until we get past the event, because we've still got two weeks to deliver, an exciting two weeks to deliver for the event.

You will see the US Open continue to be a very player-friendly event. I think our desire to increase the amount that we put on the table was driven really within the organization, the sense that we need to give the players a fair share.

Q. Craig, the other thing is obviously that came out was the player council aspect with the majors. How is that actually going to get formulated, and when would it come into effect?

CRAIG TILEY: Well, we think, again, the voice of the players, we believe, is important. Many of us have been spending a lot of time and energy individually talking to the players. Not just the last week. It's been going on for years. The slams having a close player relationship is critical to the success of the slams and the success of the relationship that we have with the fans, as well.

So the slams proposed the formation -- and all of them were aligned on this, all four slams -- the formation of a player council. But in the first instance what we want to do, like we have been doing up to this point, is get the feedback from the players on how best they want that structured. We've got a recommendation, which that recommendation we would rather share directly with that playing group.

We wrote an e-mail before this event, inviting any player that had any interest on the player council, we gave them the heads-up on the announcement that was coming, and any player that had an interest was to please let us know. We've had about 10 players come forward. There's more, as we see them, they say, Oh, by the way, I have an interest.

We'll include all those players in a conversation to say what's the best way that we sort of develop representation, structure, process, you know, amount of meetings. Then the idea is to use that, maybe we call it a transition council, but to use that first group as a way to design the way forward.

So that has been the position we put to the players, and we really are responding to one of the asks that they had, and that was to have a direct voice as a group to the Grand Slams, which we think is a good thing and is a very fair ask.

Q. Kind of a related question, obviously this money you're putting in front of the players comes in part from ticket revenue. There's been a lot of talk about price of tickets here, particularly on secondary markets, and primarily they're pretty expensive, I think you'd agree. I appreciate the supply-and-demand argument. But how can you expect some of the players playing in the main draw who came here as kids to watch tennis to be paying three-figure sums for grounds passes? How are you going to make sure you're still growing the sport while also getting that money for players?

CRAIG TILEY: I think it's a good question, James, and also critical to the balance we need to deliver every year. That's why, of the 22 days we have, 8 of them are free access. If you have a look at this past week, the experience that kids particularly have had on-site, as well as their families, has been magnificent. Eric and the team have done a great job of putting some fantastic content out there. Next year you'll see even more that we can make accessible to kids.

You did mention it. One of our biggest challenges is the secondary market. $65 for a grounds pass gets moved pretty quickly when it goes to market and at some years we'll keep looking at, because one thing that's critically important to us as an event is we want kids to be able to experience, there's the sense or having the aspiration of wanting to become a player in their future lives when they get to see the players of today. That is going to be a key initiative as we move forward into ensuring that we can have more kids on the grounds.

We have had a record number of kids on the ground the last seven days, and I think it's not going to take too much longer where this Fan Week becomes probably the most attended week, if you just look at the growth that we've had year on year, and that's where we will some put energy and focus to provide that aspiration.

Q. A follow-up on the secondary markets, can you talk about what you actually think you can do about that and whether you have had...

CRAIG TILEY: I've been on the job for five weeks and I've learned more about the secondary market, and I learned it's like if you want to get on the grounds and have to pay their tickets, it's a price that's challenging.

I'll get to understand more about it, and we need to continue to find ways to make it affordable, and most importantly, accessible.

One of our key things at the US Open is going to be the accessibility, but it has been, if you look at, as we stand here today, we've already had an entire week of great accessibility. And as you said at the beginning of your question, is that there is an insatiable demand.

The US Open, as a sporting and entertainment event, is up there, No. 1, No. 1 or No. 2 in the United States and potentially globally, and that demand is something we have to match with the balance of making sure kids have access.

Q. Eric, could you please speak a little bit about this being your first year as the tournament director and the experience you're bringing into this role and how the past few months have been going as we've been leading up to this event.

ERIC BUTORAC: Yeah, thanks. It's been great so far. Obviously I've had nine years in the role working with Stacey Allaster, getting to observe at a very close proximity for quite some time. So that was wonderful. Of course, having Craig join with so much experience as well is great.

Yeah, everything so far, yeah, no complaints (smiling). 10 out of 10.

CRAIG TILEY: We've got a long list of things we still want to do these next two weeks and the next few years.

Q. Curious to know what the rationale behind the decision not to initially give Stan Wawrinka a wildcard was.

CRAIG TILEY: Who wants to go? Look, maybe I'll quickly answer that.

There's young American players that are just out of the draw, and we exchange wildcards with the Australian Open, with the French Federation, and there's other opportunities throughout the year that the American players have a chance to compete for a wildcard. When you're just out of the draw and you're a young American up-and-coming player, you need to be given an opportunity, and that's what it was.

One of the players we needed to make sure were 100% healthy going in, but they were awarded the wildcard, but at the same time, we did let Stan know that if that was not to materialize and that player which we worked closely with -- and we have to give Patrick Gibson a lot of credit, because not often a player does what Patrick did, and that was when he realized in the middle of this week that he would not be 100% healthy to compete, he did the honorable thing, and he spoke to us and said, I'm going to withdraw from the main draw if I'm not 100%. That's a great lesson to every player.

That gave us the opportunity for Stan. Stan all along knew that was the scenario. We're both close to Stan, and it's great that he's here and he's competing, and him and his coach we saw yesterday. They're going to be ready to play.

So he is going to finish his career having played all four Grand Slams in his retirement year, which is great.

Q. A question for Eric. How would you describe the way your experience as a player gives you maybe a different perspective than others who have worked in your role?

ERIC BUTORAC: Look, it's always helpful to have sat on the other side, right, or sat in the seat. I think that helped me a lot when I first took this role. I think when I came in on day one, I had a lot of ideas on how we can improve the player experience. Then that's continued to evolve all throughout the tournament.

Whenever you've actually been on the courts competing in matches, it's super helpful as we now look at it from a management perspective.

Every angle of the tournament, we're looking to create new events. What do we think player mindset is? I think I go into it with an idea of thinking what that could be. We want to create a mixed doubles event, we want to create Stars of the Open, that's helpful. When we think about marketing opportunities, about growing the event, yeah, just having an idea of what those players are going through, it adds a lot, I think.

Q. Craig, do you have any thoughts on what Eric just said? Just in the big picture, what having someone who's a former player means for this role?

CRAIG TILEY: My views in these organizations, if you're not player first, you're going to run into some challenges.

We've naturally, I know myself and people I've worked with, is I've always focused on players-first people. Having coaches, leaders in management positions, decision-making positions, that have an experience of being in tennis or being a tennis player is critically important.

You know, if you can relate, then when you make the decisions that you need to make, players then have the confidence that you are relating. That's a much easier decision to make, whether scheduling decisions or decisions on opportunities.

So, yes, I've always been an advocate of that, and you'll see the US Open will elevate to very much so player-first approach.

Q. Back to the Stan Wawrinka question. In contrast, Venus Williams is also part of the narrative of wildcards. How have you navigated that, because there's been a chorus of she shouldn't get one? How have you navigated that scenario?

CRAIG TILEY: That she shouldn't have got one? In our view, Venus deserved a wildcard. Her contribution to the game and what she brings to the event, you know, I didn't think one second about it, to tell you the honest truth.

I think she's a magnificent champion, an American tennis icon, and we see the feedback the fans give us, and they want to see Venus play.

Anything to add to that?

ERIC BUTORAC: No, perfect.

Q. I wanted to talk to you guys about sort of the new creator media category that you have introduced last year and it's here now. I wanted to see what you thought about sort of the progress of it, of allowing sort of media like myself cover the tournament in a more sort of nontraditional way than other people would?

THE MODERATOR: I can certainly step in there.

CRAIG TILEY: Yeah, I was going to say, let Brendan -- he's the one who made the decision. If you have a tough time, just have a chat to him (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: I would say, listen, reaching new audiences is essential to the growth of our sport and to the success of our organization and to the US Open, right?

Obviously we'll continue to work with traditional media. It's been partners of ours. They've been the reason why tennis has become a global powerhouse and sport. But, we need to find ways of reaching new audiences, reaching people in a way that they connect with media today.

Obviously the creation of the creator credential has been a key part of that because it's enabled us to talk to people in a way that they're listening. That's been a big focus.

We've seen tremendous growth. Last year was year one, this is year two. We've doubled in the amount of people that we've credentialed, and I can only imagine that in future years that growth is going to continue to go upwards.

CRAIG TILEY: We're all one big happy family.

Q. On the topic of growth, we've seen this tournament swell to three weeks. How do you hope to continue that growth for years to come?

CRAIG TILEY: Four weeks (smiling)?

Look, I think these events, the Grand Slams, and I think particularly a few of them have become three-week events, and this first week, this opening week, this Fan Week, is a magnificent opportunity, to the very question that was asked earlier, and I think you've seen what impact it can have on fans and on kids and on interest of the game.

Yes, there's more growth. Growth is not necessarily increasing the length of an event, but there's more opportunity within the event to do some different things.

You know, this will become the tennis Disneyland. We're going to have lots of opportunity for players and for young kids and for adults to come inside and have different experiences. That's where you'll see most of our growth.

Q. As you guys continue to grow and add events in different parts of the main draw and Fan Week, I wonder how you think of just the sheer number of bodies on the grounds every year, and it seems like more and more, which is obviously a good thing and something you want, and if fans continue to show up, they don't mind the crowds. Is that something you guys consider or even have talked about as you undergo some construction of major stadiums and everything?

CRAIG TILEY: You want me to take that? Look, I think it's a nice problem I guess you could say, because there is an insatiable appetite to come out to Flushing and to watch all the opportunities we have for the fans. One of the things we need to be very conscious of is getting the balance of how well we manage that, and having enough activity on-site that entertains everyone.

If you're here on Kids' Tennis Day, very quickly people were getting in line to get the Spider-Man comics or go to the Chase Lounge. There were just so many opportunities on-site. I was surprised myself then, and I walked the lines of people and saying, Are you enjoying this? They're saying, We're loving it because we know what's on the other end.

It will be something that we'll continue to make sure that we stay on top of, and that we provide enough entertainment and enough opportunity for fans to enjoy it. At the same time, manage the amount of people that come into the precinct. We're not going to be one of those events that just want to pack the precinct for the sake of packing it.

Q. The presence of the U.S. president for the men's singles final last year caused significant delays for fans trying to get into Arthur Ashe. Do you know if he's coming this fortnight, and if he is, can you give reassurances that fans will not be inconvenienced, given the extra layer of security?

CRAIG TILEY: I'm not sure how to answer that one.

THE MODERATOR: At this point, I don't think we have an understanding of whether or not the president will be coming on-site this year. No question that we had great learnings from 2025, and we are going to implement those in 2026 and be ready if that comes to fruition.

Q. How differently do you see this role at the USTA and what you're trying to do here compared with what you were trying to do at Tennis Australia?

CRAIG TILEY: Jeez, you don't give me much time (smiling). But look, there's a lot of great things, there's such great fundamentals, such a great foundation here at the USTA. We have 17 sections, 27 million people playing the game, more than 27 million people playing the game. We have an event with over a million people coming through the gate. So there's so many things that are going well.

Tennis is one of the fastest-growing sports. Also, I always do this plug. This is for all of us in tennis. There's recent significant research that's come out: If you play regularly, you're going to add 10 years to your life. So everyone get a racquet.

There are some great opportunities with the game, and I also see some great opportunities here in the U.S., particularly initially at the US Open with growth, and then how we use this as a platform to grow and promote the game throughout the year.

I think we can connect the US Open better to the sport on the ground, and we'll have lots of ways to do that, and that's going to be one of my big focuses. I think one of my primary focuses is to get more people playing tennis, get more racquets in hands, people playing frequently.

And because we know the benefits that that has and we know the impact that has also on the US Open, because most people coming to the US Open are people that are playing the game or have a real interest in it. That will be the primary focus.

Then the next part of the focus will be, what are the things we're doing around this event that could help us grow. And there's a long list that I've already formulated in my mind, and with a great team of people. Eric is a good example of someone that's really open to thinking about some new ideas and pushing things.

I'm proud of the fact that there's a lot of good things in place, and there's a lot of things that we still can do. So we'll be able to give you more detail as we move through it.

But it's going to be focused primarily on growing and promoting the game.

Q. Craig, if I could ask a follow-up on the player prize money issue. What's your position on using revenue as a number to calculate prize money by? How do you kind of think of that, as obviously at the Grand Slams revenue is very different across all four? Are we thinking of that correctly? How do you think of it?

CRAIG TILEY: Yeah, we don't use that number as a form of calculating how we compensate, because it can be fairly arbitrary from one event to another.

I believe the tours use profit, so we look at it very differently. We say, what's a fair share that the players need to be compensated on, and what can we do, because even outside of just the compensation package, what other things can we do to help support the players, not just during the event but also year-round.

Yeah, that's not a way we calculate, how we think about it.

Q. Craig, given the obvious popularity of family, any thoughts of making it a Saturday to Saturday, adding one day onto it? Eric, I remember the second week, we got a chance to see a lot of the retired players do exhibitions on the side courts. Any chance we might see that come back again? Fans love to see their old heroes.

ERIC BUTORAC: Yeah, I think we're always looking at content and how best to use it. I think when I first started here, we were doing a legends event in the second week of the main draw or now the third week. We just found the numbers on the grounds were a bit light, and it wasn't the best use of that star power.

We started creating some legends events during Fan Week. But I think there's also a world where it can come back. I think Craig mentioned earlier, there seems to be an insatiable appetite for people that want to see these players play, and many of them want to see the legends.

As we look how to build that out, it's just always a challenge after Labor Day, kids going back to school, a lot of people going back to work.

I think almost all of the legends seem to be coming back every year, many of them are commentators, there's a lot of earning opportunities for them. I do foresee a future where we can continue to bring some more content back in the third week.

CRAIG TILEY: Yeah, I think Eric covered it. We will continue to grow. Maybe you should come work for us, because you've got some ideas.

Q. And the idea of adding an extra day to Fan Week, making it a Saturday to Saturday?

CRAIG TILEY: We're going to look at everything and see what's possible. The first question we're going to ask is how can we continue to grow, and what do we need to do that offers our fans, and particularly kids, an opportunity to have a great experience.