'Couldn't Have Scripted Better Outcome': Australian Open Boss On Nadal & Barty Winning In 2022

| by Sebastian Dahlman

According to Australian Open tournament director and Tennis Australia CEO, Craig Tiley, the 2022 edition of the tournament was perfect, with Rafael Nadal and Ashleigh Barty winning.

The 2022 Australian Open was certainly an interesting one because it was held without now-ten-time champion Novak Djokovic. We saw a pretty spectacular event that finished amazingly on both sides. On the women's side, native player Ashleigh Barty made everybody Down Under happy by lifting the trophy.

On the men's side, we saw Rafael Nadal winning the trophy with a sensational comeback win over Daniil Medvedev. According to tournament director Craig Tiley, the outcome was a perfect one, as if somebody scripted it.

Basically, everyone had been in a lockdown. And in 2022, we had the Australian Open with a whole series of conditions around it. Vaccinations and medical exemption, which was confusing for everyone at the time. So we focussed on what was needed to be done to run an event. My job was to run an event, not to issue visas or medical exemptions, but to run a great event. I think we achieved that.

Tiley on the difficulty of the 2022 edition
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It was one of the most successful events. Rafael Nadal winning and Ash Barty winning the Australian Open, we couldn't have scripted a better outcome.

The event is only becoming more popular with more fans coming to see it. It's the first big event of the year, and everybody is excited to see how players perform. Due to the way the season picks up, it's never short of surprises, which adds a certain flavour as well.

We're only a few months away from the next edition of the event, so let's see what might happen this year. Will Djokovic win an 11th? Will Naomi Osaka return with a bang? Find out in January.

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