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WTT season kicks off July 3
The 2008 season of the WTT Pro League presented by Advanta kicks off July 3 at 1 pm (EST) when the New York Sportimes host the Boston Lobsters. That's only the beginning of a month of matches that will feature three generations of top tennis players.
 Check out a WTT match in one of the 11 markets, follow LIVE scoring on WTT.com or watch Versus or Tennis Channel to see WTT action. The WTT regular season runs July 3-23 with five teams advancing to the WTT Championship Weekend, July 24-27 in Roseville, Calif.
Marquee players hit the courts during the first week of action with Serena Williams helping her Washington Kastles teammates open up their inaugural season in downtown Washington, D.C. Williams plays in D.C. on July 8 followed by road appearances in Albany (July 9), Mamaroneck (July 10) and Newport Beach (July 13). Venus Williams returns to the Philadelphia Freedoms lineup on July 8 in Delaware, July 9 in Philadelphia and July 10 in Boston.
After withdrawing from her second round match at Wimbledon with a knee injury, tennis fans will be excited for Lindsay Davenport's return on July 10 for the Newport Beach Breakers in Newport Beach, Calif. Davenport travels to Sacramento on July 12 for a road test against the Capitals.
Andy Roddick returns to the St. Louis Aces on July 12. Bob and Mike Bryan, John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova are other big names to hit the multi-colored courts in 2008.
Here's a look at the matches for the next week. For a full schedule of matches, visit WTT.com.
Thursday,
July 3
Boston Lobsters @ New York
Sportimes
New York Buzz @ Delaware Smash
St. Louis Aces @ Springfield Lasers
Newport
Beach Breakers @ Sacramento Capitals
Friday,
July 4
Washington Kastles @ Philadelphia Freedoms
Delaware Smash @ St. Louis Aces
Kansas City Explorers @ Sacramento
Capitals
Saturday,
July 5
Washington Kastles @ Delaware Smash
Philadelphia Freedoms @ Springfield Lasers
New York Buzz @ St. Louis Aces
Kansas City Explorers @ Newport Beach
Breakers
Sunday,
July 6
Boston Lobsters @ New York Buzz
Springfield Lasers @ Kansas City
Explorers
Monday,
July 7
Delaware Smash @ Boston Lobsters
Philadelphia Freedoms @ New York
Sportimes
Newport Beach Breakers @ Springfield Lasers
Sacramento Capitals @ St. Louis Aces
Tuesday,
July 8
New York Buzz @ New York Sportimes
Philadelphia Freedoms (Venus Williams) @ Delaware Smash
Boston Lobsters @ Washington Kastles (Serena Williams)
Sacramento Capitals @ Springfield Lasers
Newport Beach Breakers @ St. Louis Aces
Wednesday,
July 9
Washington Kastles (Serena Williams) @ New York Buzz
Delaware Smash @ Philadelphia
Freedoms (Venus Williams)
Sacramento Capitals @ Kansas City
Explorers
Thursday,
July 10
Philadelphia Freedoms (Venus Williams) @ Boston Lobsters
Washington Kastles (Serena Williams) @ New York Sportimes
Springfield Lasers @ Newport Beach
Breakers (Lindsay Davenport)
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LOOKING AHEAD:
WTT Championship Weekend - July 24-27 in Roseville, Calif.
Five teams. One weekend. One seriously cool Tiffany trophy. It's the WTT Championship Weekend.
Sacramento is the winningest team in WTT history, having defeated the New York Buzz last summer to win their sixth championship. They will have an opportunity to repeat with a guaranteed spot in the Championship Weekend.  The top two teams from both the Eastern and Western Conferences automatically qualify for the playoffs, along with a wild card team. The wild card will either be the host team or the team with the fifth best overall League record (if the host team qualifies as one of the top two teams from their conference).
Conference champions will be decided during the regular season. The five teams advancing to the Championship Weekend will be seeded based on their regular season record, regardless of conference. The top three teams automatically advance to the semifinals while the No. 4 seed and the wild card team face off in a wild card playoff match. The winner of the wild card match advances to the semifinals to face the No. 1 seed.
Thursday, July 24 - Wild Card match (7 pm PST)
Friday, July 25 - Semifinal #1 (7 pm PST)
Saturday, July 26 - Semifinal #2 (7 pm PST)
Sunday, July 27 - WTT FINALS (1 pm PST)
The finals will air LIVE on Versus Network at 1 pm Pacific with a re-air on Tennis Channel on July 30. |
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Kids are making a racquet
at WTT matches this summer
Advanta, presenting sponsor of the WTT Pro League, will once again hand out free junior tennis racquets to kids age 4-16 at all WTT matches this summer.
Since the inception of their "Ready, Set, Racquet!" program, Advanta has donated more than 135,000 free racquets. The racquets are customized for WTT with each franchise's team colors and logo, and include a cover and a tennis ball.
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Wilson Tip of the Month:
Watch the Wilson Pros
Wilson, the number one brand in tennis, is
proud to be the official Racket, Ball and Accessory of World TeamTennis.
Billie Jean King's passion for the game of tennis is
unparalleled and continues today through World TeamTennis.
Wilson is excited to have many of our
players participate and we wish them a successful 2008 WTT
season!!!
James Auckland (KC)
Angelika Bachmann (NBB)
Madison Brengle (DEL) >>>>>
Eric Butorac (SAC)
Audra Cohen (PHL)
Lindsay Davenport (NBB)
Amir Hadad (BOS)
Sacha Jones (WSH)
Raquel Kops-Jones (BOS)
Elena Likhovtseva (SAC)
Bethanie Mattek (NYS)
Gabriela Navratilova (NYB)
Travis Parrott (PHL)
Marie-Eve Pelletier (BOS)
Shenay Perry (SPR)
Todd Perry (SPR)
Dmitry Tursunov (SAC)
Venus Williams (PHL)
Serena Williams (WSH)
Brian Wilson (NYS)
Jesse Witten (NYS)
Jasmin Woehr (STL)
By Tracy Almeda-Singian/Wilson Tracy Almeda-Singian is a former WTA Tour Player, USPTA Professional, and current Grassroots Manager for Wilson Racquet Sports.
Photo: Madison Brengle (Fred & Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA)
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WTT on TV
Where to watch WTT on TV:
WTT televises matches on national, regional and local cable networks
and reaches more than 100 million households every week during the Pro
League season. The 8-match series will also
be distributed throughout the majority of the Comcast SportsNet systems
this
summer. Additional WTT matches air on a number of regional cable including including: Cox Communications,
Fox Sports Net, Mediacom, Madison Square Garden Network and Time Warner
Cable. Visit WTT.com for a complete schedule of regional and national telecasts.
Tennis Channel
7/10, 8:00 PM EST - Boston Lobsters @ WASHINGTON KASTLES (Serena Williams - WSH)
7/11, 8:00 PM EST - Delaware Smash @ PHILADELPHIA FREEDOMS (Venus Williams - PHL)
7/16, 8:00 PM EST - Springfield Lasers @ NEWPORT BEACH BREAKERS (Lindsay Davenport - NBB)
7/17, 8:00 PM EST - Kansas City Explorers @ ST. LOUIS ACES
(Andy Roddick - STL)
7/23, 9:30 PM EST - New York Sportimes @ WASHINGTON KASTLES (John McEnroe - NYS)
7/24, 9:30 PM EST - Kansas City Explorers @ PHILADELPHIA FREEDOMS (Bob and Mike Bryan - KC)
7/26, 9:00 PM EST - New York Sportimes @ NEWPORT BEACH BREAKERS (John McEnroe - NYS)
7/30, 7:00 PM EST - WTT FINALS in Roseville,
Calif. (Teams TBD)
VERSUS
7/27, LIVE - 4:00 PM EST - WTT FINALS in Roseville,
Calif. (Teams TBD)
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Blog on!
Check out WTT.com to read blogs from players and others leading up to the season. From travel adventures throughout the world, the search for a new doubles partner, or Wimbledon nostaglia, Overtime blogs are always an interesting read. The newest additions:
Jasmin Woehr (St. Louis Aces):Jasmin has been struggling to find an interim doubles partner this spring after her regular partner went down in Miami with an ACL injury. Jazzy is excited to return to the friendly courts of St. Louis for her 2nd WTT season. More . . . 
Dusan Vemic
(Kansas City Explorers):
Once he gets to the tournaments, Dusan Vemic is doing just fine thank
you. But it's the unpredictable travel that puts the real challenge
into Dusan's adventures. More . . .
 Ilana Kloss (WTT CEO/Commissioner): Before she was behind the desk in the CEO's office at World TeamTennis, Ilana Kloss was the youngest No. 1 in South Africa and the 1976 US Open Doubles champion. More than three decades after she first played at Wimbledon, she's back on the grass courts to compete in the Ladies Invitational Doubles event and add to her list of memorable Wimbledon moments. More . . .
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AROUND THE LEAGUE
Eastern
Conference
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Rebounces recycling program keeps tennis balls in play
 At Rebounces,
their slogan pretty much says it all -
REPLAY,
REUSE, RECYCLE.
At select matches this
season, WTT fans can help bring that slogan to life. FirmGreen Energy, the Official Green Energy
Company of WTT, will host Rebounces collection bins at all of the matches
listed below, so be sure to bring your old tennis balls and stop by
the FirmGreen booth before the match!
Rebounces has developed a process of recharging
tennis balls to industry standard pressure thereby creating a greater lifespan
for the balls. If balls are too worn out
for court play, Rebounces distributes to schools and nursing homes to place old
balls on the bottoms of furniture and walkers to reduce noise pollution and
prevent flooring damage. When a ball can't
be used for play or reuse, they are recycled.
If
you happen to be in Springfield or St. Louis this weekend,
representatives from Rebounces will be on site to answer all of your questions
and, of course, collect those old tennis balls!
A Rebounces booth is at the following matches:
7/3 - Springfield
7/4, 7/5 - St. Louis
Rebounces collection bins at the FirmGreen booth at
the following matches:
7/11, 7/12 - Sacramento
7/15 - Washington
7/16 - Philadelphia
7/17 - Delaware
7/19 - Boston
All matches:
Newport Beach,
NY
Sportimes and
WTT Championship Weekend in Roseville, Calif.
FirmGreen Energy is the Official Green Energy Company of WTT
and can be found on the web at www.firmgreenenergy.com. |
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Pro Tour Results
ATP Tour results |
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WTT CALENDAR -
July & August 2008
July 3-23:
WTT Pro League regular season
July 4:
Registration deadline for Natl. Qualifier in Kansas City, Mo.
July 18-20:
WTT Rec League Natl. Qualifier in Kansas City, Mo.
July 24-27:
WTT Championship Weekend
August 14-17:
WTT Jr. Nationals hosted by
Billie Jean King
- San Diego, Calif. |
Official Sponsors
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