Andrew Abdo has quit his role at chief executive of the NRL and looks poised to join Tennis Australia.

ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys is set to replace Abdo on an interim basis while the league looks for a replacement for Abdo, held the role for six years.

Abdo took charge of the NRL in April 2020, and helped the league navigate the competition’s COVID-enforced shutdown and subsequent resumption that May.

V’landys, who is also the CEO of Racing NSW, would be the first ARLC chair to take control of both roles since John Grant did it in 2015 after the departure of David Smith. He would likely need to take leave from his role at Racing NSW to do so.

Abdo’s resignation is a major blow for the NRL, which has enjoyed record crowd numbers and TV ratings, and begun expansion projects in Papua New Guinea and Perth, under his watch.

Under Abdo’s leadership, the NRL has executed its daring plan to open the season with matches in Las Vegas, a deal that also runs out after 2027.

The league has introduced major changes to its rule-book in the Abdo era, most notably introducing the divisive set-restart rule.

Abdo was also chief executive when the NRL expanded for the first time since 2007, introducing the Dolphins for the 2023 season.

His departure also means the NRL has lost its leader amidst crucial ongoing negotiations over the next broadcast deal, which is expected to be the biggest in league history, and the collective bargaining agreement with the Rugby League Players’ association. Both deals expire at the end of 2027.

Prior to replacing Todd Greenberg as chief executive, Abdo had served as the NRL’s chief commercial officer from 2013 until 2020, and previously worked in the corporate sector.

An announcement on Abdo’s future is yet to be made, but the South African-born administrator appears in line to replace former Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley who, coincidentally, also grew up in South Africa.

Tiley officially announced his departure from Tennis Australia to become CEO of the US Tennis Association in February this year.

While the likes of David Gallop, Todd Greenberg, John O’Neill and James Sutherland have all made successful switches from the various football codes to run another sport, Abdo’s impending move to tennis shapes as a bold one.

After starting at TA as the player development chief in 2005, Tiley has transformed the Australian Open into a billion-dollar behemoth.

He became the Australian Open tournament director the following year and CEO in 2013 and had been easily Australia’s highest-paid sports administrator with a multi-million dollar salary.

It is expected that Abdo will fill the dual role, despite TA at times coming under fire for giving Tiley too much responsibility.

The South African-born 63-year-old always insisted the notion that being the governing body’s CEO and boss of the AO were two different jobs was a fallacy.

“A couple of things that I could say unequivocally on behalf of our chair and the board is that it is going to be one role,” he told AAP in February.

“It actually is one role. I think that’s very much a misunderstanding.

“Those that work in the company don’t have a problem. They completely understand it. But obviously there’s a lot of people outside the company that don’t understand it completely.”

Tiley said having the CEO running the company and its biggest event was completely logical.

“The CEO is the face of the organisation and is responsible for the conversation with the externals, whether it be the members, boards or the public or the media,” he said.

“It would be like having a head coach of a team and then having someone in the back office talking to the media about how the team’s playing. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Most of the movers and shakers in Australian tennis are in Paris for the French Open, which started on Sunday.

With AAP