WTT Pro League season set
January 13, 2011
New York, N.Y. — The 36th season of the World TeamTennis Pro League presented by GEICO begins on Monday, July 4, with 73 matches played between July 4-24. The League announced dates today for the 2011 season as well as the two Player Drafts this spring, The regular season will run July 4-21 in 10 U.S. markets, with the WTT Conference Championships set for July 22 and the WTT Finals presented by GEICO on July 24. Teams will begin to put together their 2011 lineups on Tuesday, Feb. 15, with the WTT Marquee Player Draft. The St. Louis Aces announced this week that 2010 Female MVP Lindsay Davenport will be returning for their 2011 season. Teams draft in reverse order of their 2010 finish, with defending champion Kansas City Explorers selecting 10th in the first round of the Draft. Team rosters will be completed on Tuesday, March 15, when the 2011 WTT Roster Player Draft is conducted. With WTT’s gender-balanced team concept, each team is comprised of two men, two women and a coach. Team matches consist of five events, with one set each of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The 10 coed professional tennis teams compete in two Conferences. Western Conference teams are the Kansas City Explorers (Kansas City, Mo.); Newport Beach Breakers (Newport Beach, Calif.); Sacramento Capitals (Roseville, Calif.); St. Louis Aces (St. Louis, Mo.); and Springfield Lasers (Springfield, Mo.). Eastern Conference teams are Boston Lobsters (Middleton, Mass.); New York Buzz (Albany, N.Y.); New York Sportimes (New York, N.Y.); Philadelphia Freedoms (Villanova, Pa.); and Washington Kastles (Washington, D.C.). Billie Jean King co-founded the WTT Pro League and coed team format in the 1970s. WTT is also well known for introducing other innovative elements to tennis including instant replay, cumulative and no-ad scoring, on-court coaching, Supertiebreakers, multi-colored courts and player names on the back of shirts. Each season, the WTT Pro League features some of the biggest stars in tennis. Top names from the 2010 season included Andy Roddick, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Anna Kournikova, John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, James Blake, Michael Chang and the world’s top-ranked doubles team of Mike and Bob Bryan. The League is a showcase for three generations of tennis standouts, including legends, current tour players and up-and-coming tennis pros. Sharapova and Andy Roddick are among the players who started in the League as teenagers.
IMPORTANT DATES – WTT Pro League presented by GEICO WTT Marquee Player
Draft: February 15, 2011
WTT Roster Player Draft: March 15, 2011
Regular Season: July 4-21, 2011
WTT Conference Championships: July 22, 2011 (locations at home court of #1 seed in each conference) WTT Finals presented by GEICO: July 24, 2011 (location TBD)