World Team Tennis–The Basics

Written by: Staff on 17th April 2012

World Team Tennis--The Basics |

World TeamTennis – Taking the Lead

Since its inception in the early 70s, WTT has been an innovator in the sports world. Many of WTT’s novel rules have been designed to make the game a “fan-friendly” sport and are finally starting to be recognized and adopted by others in the industry.

The fan experience of a WTT match is simply not like anything you’ve ever seen on a tennis court. It’s loud, exciting, and innovative. WTT is all about the fans – it’s a little bit rock n’ roll, intense competition and a whole lot of fun.

With a fascinating history of firsts, innovations and an emphasis on gender equity, World TeamTennis stands out among all professional sports leagues. Here are a few of the reasons why:

WORLD TEAMTENNIS – A League of Firsts & Innovations

Professional sports league where men and women have equal roles.
Use of instant replay technology in 2005 with the WTT Coaches Challenge.
Professional tennis competition to regularly feature no-ad scoring – first one to four points wins the game.
Features on-court coaching.
WTT encourages fan participation. WTT crowds are encouraged to be vocal about great play (while still being respectful of all players) and are allowed to enter/exit the stadium during play without having to wait for a changeover. Often between games, music is played or a DJ fires up the crowd.
Let serves are played.
Sets are played to five games (nine-point tiebreak played at 4-4).
Invented the use of Supertiebreaker and Overtime in tennis.
Tennis fans are allowed to keep balls hit out of play and get them autographed after the match.
Substitutions are allowed during a WTT match.
WTT matches have half-times, Overtime and Supertiebreakers.
Player names on the back of shirts.
Played on multi-colored courts.
Similarly as with other professional league team sports, WTT is instituting the use of timeouts during match play in 2012. Each team will be allotted two timeouts per set with an additional timeout being awarded to each team if a match goes into overtime. Timeouts will be twenty (:20) seconds in length and do not carry over between sets. Only the coach may call a timeout. Coaches or players may enter the court area during these breaks in action.

What you need to know

World TeamTennis. There are a few things to know about how we play the game.

It’s about team. There are eight teams in the WTT Pro League presented by GEICO. Three generations of tennis standouts – from the stars of tomorrow to today’s top names to legends of the game – make up the teams. In WTT, every game counts – literally. Scoring is cumulative and it takes a team to win!

HERE ARE THE BASICS OF WORLD TEAMTENNIS

TEAM – coed team of 2 men, 2 women, 1 coach.

5 SETS – one each of men’s & women’s singles, men’s & women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

SCORING – game scoring is 1 to 4; no-ad; scoring is cumulative.

ON THE COURT – no-ad scoring; let serves are in play; plus on-court coaching, Timeouts, Coaches’ Challenges and player substitutions are allowed.

OVERTIME – if the team ahead in the cumulative score wins the final game of the last set, then that team wins the match. If the trailing team wins the final set, the match goes into Overtime and continues until (a) the leading team wins one game, or (b) the trailing team ties the match score. If the score becomes tied, the match is decided by a Supertiebreaker.

SUPERTIEBREAKER – if the match is tied at the end of the five sets or if the trailing team ties the score in Overtime, a 13-point Supertiebreaker, involving the fifth set event, is played. The first team to win seven points is awarded a single game and the match.

FANS – World TeamTennis is all about the fans. Get involved, get loud and have a great time.

KIDS – Kids rule the court at WTT matches. Look for post-match autograph sessions for kids age 16 & under after every match.

GREAT MOMENTS

WTT co-founder Billie Jean King is named as the League’s first MVP (1974).
Jimmy Connors dominated men’s tennis in 1974, winning three of the four slams. However he was barred from playing in the French Open after he signed up to participate in World Team Tennis. Because the ATP and French officials opposed WTT, Connors was not admitted into the French Open field in 1974. It was the only Grand Slam title he never won in his legendary career.
Billie Jean King leads the New York Sets to first of her three League Championships in 1976; King’s final WTT title was in 1983 with the Chicago Fyre, which was coached by current WTT CEO/Commissioner Ilana Kloss .
Chris Evert becomes the first WTT player to win back to back MVP awards (1977-78).
Billie Jean King is named as the first woman commissioner in pro sports history, taking the role at World TeamTennis (1984).
WTT Commissioner Ilana Kloss signs Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova to the League’s first multi-year marquee player contracts (1990).
Newport Beach Dukes post the League’s first undefeated regular season in 1994 with 14-0 mark. However the Dukes did not win the 1994 championship title.
Kansas City stages the greatest comeback in WTT history. Trailing the Sacramento Capitals by nine games going into the final set, the Explorers won men’s doubles 6-0 and added three games in Overtime to force a Supertiebreaker. Kansas City won the Supertiebreaker 7-3 and the match 25-24 (1997).
The “Ready, Set, Racquet!” program begins at WTT matches in 2003. Since that time, more than 250,000 free junior tennis racquets have been distributed.
Instant replay is introduced to professional tennis competition at WTT matches with the WTT Coaches Challenge presented by GEICO (2005).
Sacramento becomes first team in WTT history to win six championships with the 2007 title. The Caps also had an unprecedented four-peat, winning the title from 1997 to 2000.
Martina Navratilova, playing for the Boston Lobsters in 2009, becomes the first player to reach 20 seasons in WTT.
Kim Clijsters comes out of retirement and makes her WTT debut for the St. Louis Aces in July 2009. Less than two months later, she stuns the sports world by winning the US Open title.
In 2010, Martina Hingis returns to pro tennis competition for the first time since 2007. Hingis joined the Albany, N.Y.-based New York Buzz in 2010. In 2011, she became a member of the New York Sportimes when the two New York teams merged.
In 2011, the Washington Kastles completed the first undefeated season in WTT history (16-0), and won their 2nd WTT Championship with a victory over St. Louis Aces in the Finals.
In 2012, the WTT Finals Weekend presented by GEICO returns to the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 14-16. The venue is also home to one of the WTA Tour’s most storied tournaments – the Family Circle Cup.