Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Vince Cicero is leaving the tournament, one of the world’s nine biggest tennis events, at year-end to start his own sports marketing company, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.

The tournament, which takes place in August each year, set records for attendance and revenue in all five seasons Cicero ran it. The tournament’s 16 sessions this year drew 199,217 fans to the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

Cicero, 51, said the decision to leave was purely his and it has long been his goal to start his own sports marketing firm. He thought about it when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he worked for 13 years and was director of corporate sales, marketing and broadcasting before joining the Western & Southern Open.

His firm will work with clients in sports and entertainment. Cicero will use his experience with the tennis tournament, the Bengals and previous sports marketing stints with the Detroit Pistons, Marquette University and the Milwaukee Bucks to work with clients. He’ll start out dealing mostly with local companies interested in advertising with and sponsoring sports events, teams and venues, he said. He could also work with some teams and events. And eventually he could expand his client base to a broader geographic area. He didn’t disclose any clients.

The Western & Southern Open has started a search for Cicero’s successor, a tournament spokesman said.

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.