LONDON -- ATP president Etienne de Villiers, who introduced video replay and increased prize money on the men's tour, will step down when his contract expires in December.
De Villiers will leave the post after instigating a series of changes since taking over in June 2005, the ATP announced Thursday. He reshuffled the tour calendar, allowed byes for seeded players at Masters tournaments and introduced the Hawkeye system of judging line calls.
"I believe we have delivered the biggest modernization of the ATP Tour since its inception, have attracted unprecedented levels of investment into men's tennis and have begun to feed the growing appetite for men's tennis globally, both in established and emerging markets," said De Villiers, the ATP executive chairman. "I am honored to have played a part in taking our great sport to the next level."
The ATP said De Villiers will help in the search for his successor.
De Villiers, a former president of Walt Disney Television International, joined the ATP as chairman and became executive chairman and president five months later. He helped secure $1 billion of new investment into the ATP Tour. Much was spent overhauling the tour's image to make it more fan friendly.
The byes for seeded players at Masters tournaments led to more appearances by the top players. The increase in prize money was the first in more than five years.
"Now that this much needed change has been realized, I believe this is the right time for someone new to build on this strong platform," he said.
