By Blair Henley
The roof has closed on Wimbledon for another year and now the waiting game begins. Tennis fans will have to survive almost two months before the buzzing energy and late-night excitement of the U.S. Open takes over. But here’s something that might ease your tennis withdrawal.
World Team Tennis (WTT), the fan-friendly brainchild of founder Billie Jean King, begins its 35th season Monday, culminating with the WTT Finals in Kansas City on July 25th.
Ten teams comprised of two men, two women and a coach make up the Eastern and Western WTT Conferences. Matches consist of five no-ad sets with one set each of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
In a sport where players’ individual performances dictate wins and losses, the co-ed team structure offers a unique experience for both players and fans. And one look at the multi-colored courts will tell you that this isn’t your grandmother’s tennis match.
Traditional tennis etiquette is thrown out the window for the duration of the competition and fans are encouraged to make as much noise as possible between points. You’ll have to yell loudly though if you want to be heard over the blaring music played during point breaks and changeovers.
I experienced the one-of-a-kind WTT atmosphere firsthand last summer when I filled in for Springfield Lasers player, Vania King, the newly-crowned Wimbledon women’s doubles champion. A former college player, I benefitted from being one of, well, one player in the Missouri town who had played at a relatively high level – “had played” being the keywords there.
It had been three years since my last tournament and I had just two days to practice with my doubles partner Chani Scheepers (currently ranked No. 88). Returning her rocket-like groundstrokes left me so sore that I was seriously doubting my mobility by match time. But that was the least of my worries.
As the fans began to file into the small, up-close-and-personal stadium, I felt like my heart had dislodged and was sitting comfortably in my gut. Women’s doubles was the fourth “event” to take the court, so I had plenty of time to ponder whether Chani was capable of singlehandedly winning our doubles match.
Thankfully my fears were unfounded. As our coach sat on the bench directing the fans to clap along with the music, the momentum shifted and we overcame a 4-2 deficit to take the event in a tiebreaker.
We celebrated with our teammates (whose expectations for my performance were likely similar to my own), and listened to the local crowd of around 1,500 cheer wildly. Chani followed up our doubles with a stellar singles performance, sealing our victory.
Then I signed autographs like I had been doing it all my life.
I have no doubt that the team format is just as much fun for the players as it is for the people in the stands. Tennis is a notoriously solitary sport, but having a group to practice and travel with for a few weeks a year is no doubt a nice respite from the grind of the professional tennis tour.
It’s easy to forget that there are over 1,000 players on both the men’s and women’s circuits fighting for their chance to break into the world’s top 50. WTT gives those rising stars some exposure and satisfies fans’ desire for big-time tennis celebrities by periodically including “marquis players” in team lineups.
Venus and Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport, John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova are just some of the players who will be making appearances this season. Martina Hingis will be playing for New York Buzz in what some are speculating to be the beginning of yet another comeback.
Billie Jean King’s vision for drawing in new tennis fans by introducing a team format that allows close contact with players has made the game accessible to adults and children who may realize for the first time that a tennis match can be just as entertaining as a baseball or football game, and far less expensive.
You can check the World Team Tennis website (wtt.com) for more information on team locations and tickets. Go and see how tennis has been transformed from a demure country club sport to a true blue sporting event. Oh, and bring your noisemakers.