Tennis Australia's chief executive and Australian Open tournament director said sticking to core organisation values and being real kept his team together, key partners on board and, ultimately, one of the biggest shows in the Asia-Pacific in action.

But he did not say it was easy.

Mr Tiley was guest speaker for Committee for Ballarat's first round table dinner in 15 months - the last was the 2019 Leadership Ballarat and Western Region graduation.

To pull off the Australian Open, during a pandemic, in a state still raw in knowing what COVID-19 community transmission could mean, was a series of conquering epic hurdles for Tennis Australia. Mr Tiley admits there were moments when it did not look like the Open would happen.

The mantra was making the impossible possible and this is what Mr Tiley's speech challenged Ballarat leaders to consider for the benefit and betterment of this community and region.

"Many moments it did look like it was going to be impossible but with the tenacity and persistence of the team - a large team with 600 full-time staff and about 10,000 seasonal staff - there was a whole team approach. A belief," Mr Tiley told The Courier.

"We had strong partnerships and were working wth the state government to make it happen. No-one was trying to make it not happen but there were many times when the barriers in normal cases would have mean we had not done it."

The Australian Open took months of preparation, including a six-week period of international players in town. Every morning of those six weeks, Mr Tiley woke up hoping for no leaks in community transmission from the operation.

He felt the intense scrutiny from Victorians and the tennis community with the whole world looking on - and this was on top of Tennis Australia staff trying to pull off a mammoth ask, often working in international time zones.

"You have to, as a leader, set the tone," Mr Tiley said. "I was never fake. It was real. I had to let people know on days when I was struggling but, at the same time, let them know I was there always to provide encouragement and support.

"...This was the most intense time in my professional career but I learned something about myself - my response was this calmness. I am usually the kind of person who wants things done the whole time and quickly."

My Tiley said he completely accepted Victorians' comments, the hesitancy and skepticism in hosting a major international event in the wake of severe lockdowns.

What he was not expecting were such strong negative reactions from some players. Tennis Australia had to "go into overdrive" to really spell out to players what Victorians had been through in the year leading up to this tournament.

This year, Mr Tiley received more thank-you notes from players than ever before. The world's top female players combined to create a framed keepsake with "beautiful notes". He knew Tennis Australia had got it right.

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And then the organisation must look to pull off another unknown feat.

"It will be a different event again in 2022, still not knowing the state of the virus and impact of the vaccine," Mr Tiley said.

At the same time, Tennis Australia was working to grow the game and make it more accessible at the grassroots.

Book a Court, an online app, allows people to play on courts across the nation even if they were not a member - including Buninyong. There are future plans for tennis ball vending machine.

Mr Tiley said the most important goal for Tennis Australia was to get more clubs on board the app because those who did use it, reported a 30 to 40 per cent increase in revenue without really doing anything.

He said while sports much continue to evolve, it was important to find ways to "cross bridges" with the old way of doing things.

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