UCLA Promotes de Villiers to Full-Time Role
June 18, 2018 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES โ Rikus de Villiers has been elevated to the position of assistant coach with UCLA men's tennis, head coach Billy Martin announced Monday.
A familiar face to the program, de Villiers served in the role of volunteer assistant coach for five of the past six seasons. He replaces Grant Chen, who was recently named head coach at Southern Methodist University.
"I'm really excited to have Rikus step up into Grant Chen's full-time assistant coach position, said Martin. "Rikus has certainly proven himself as a great coach here. The entire team is supportive of this decision. So many have come to me hoping that this would be the way we would go with the change since Grant's left."
De Villiers joined the UCLA staff in the fall of 2012 and immediately aided the Bruins in their run to the final round of the NCAA Championships the following spring. Over the course of his five seasons on staff, UCLA registered an overall record of 124-28 (.816) and dropped just two regular-season Pac-12 matches (32-2). The Bruins also secured three Pac-12 Tournament titles during de Villiers' time as a volunteer. He coached American Ryan Harrison on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour during his time away from the program in 2015-16.
"I'm extremely excited for my new position with men's tennis," said de Villiers. "I know I'll face some new challenges and Grant always did such an amazing job juggling the many aspects of our program. I look forward to the experience and the upcoming year with such a fun group of guys."
Prior to joining UCLA, de Villiers played collegiate tennis from 2008-2011, spending one season at Pepperdine before transferring to Fresno State. The Durban, South Africa native came into his own with the Bulldogs, earning All-Western Athletics Conference (WAC) recognition each year. It was a breakout 2011 for de Villiers and the Bulldogs, who advanced to the NCAA Championships Second Round after claiming the WAC's automatic bid to the tournament. Individually, de Villiers was named to the All-WAC Singles and Doubles First Teams. De Villiers and partner Remi Boutillier earned a second trip to the NCAA Doubles Championships and finished the season ranked No. 18 in the Campbell/ITA doubles rankings. De Villiers reached a career-best No. 83 on the singles list.
A multiple-time winner at the African Championships as a junior player, de Villiers picked up his first ATP point at just 14 years old.
"I'm so comfortable with the changing of the guards," added Martin. "I think [de Villiers] knows UCLA completely, the way we like to do things here. He's able to put up with me (laughs), he's proven that for four or five years. I think it'll be a really smooth transition all the way around."
