For most of its recent history World TeamTennis was a fun and innovative idea caught with a home too small. The tennis schedule is simply too packed to find ways to give it it’s proper due. Other than places like Washington, where serial entrepreneur Mark Ein has built the Kastles into a year-round staple of the community, and Philadelphia, where the Freedoms have a niche, and a city like Springfield, Mo. where the Lasers are a big fish in a small pond, WTT has rarely been the focus of attention and fans. The work Ilana Kloss and Billie Jean King out in promoting the league and its players and its innovation was always great, but the window was always a challenge. Squeeze a whole season in during a small summer period. There was enough time to take a bite, but before you digested, the season was over and we were back to the summer hardcourt tennis going leading to the US Open. There were always one-off nights of star power, and a year-end celebrity fundraiser, but the season was tough to focus on.
Then along came the Pandemic. Tennis and golf, sports made for social distancing in many ways, could find their niche as team sports and others figured out more complicated ways to get back to the field, ice and pitch, especially in the US. Golf has started to return, but the international travel issue with the biggest of tennis names, not to mention the massive logistics of big tennis events, has made a return to tournament play something that MAY return in mid summer, but right now nothing is clear.
What is clear is that WTT, now run by Carlos Silva, found a way to grab a spotlight and do something that is sometimes invaluable in cutting through the clutter for a niche property…they became a first to return.
This week World TeamTennis announced it has committed to play the entirety of its 45th season at The Greenbrier “America’s Resort” in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The 2020 World TeamTennis season will showcase a 63-match regular season over 19 consecutive days from July 12-30, with the WTT Playoffs to follow on Aug. 1 (WTT Semifinals) and Aug. 2 (WTT Final). The top four teams from WTT’s regular season standings will advance to the WTT Playoffs. CBS will air a regular season match on July 19 and the WTT Final on August 2. CBS Sports Network will carry 13 regular season matches and both semifinals on August 1. It will include at least three matches per day at The Greenbrier’s 2,500-seat outdoor stadium, with an indoor court to be installed as a backup option, for WTT’s nine franchises – the expansion Chicago Smash, New York Empire, Orange County (Calif.) Breakers, Orlando Storm, Philadelphia, San Diego Aviators, 2018 and 2019 WTT champion Springfield, Vegas Rollers and Washington. The matches are scheduled to begin anywhere from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. ET (subject to changes in broadcast schedules).
While without some of the biggest draws that fill seats as one-off’s during the typical WTT season, this year they do have commitments from 2020 Australian Open champion and World No. 4 Sofia Kenin (Philadelphia Freedoms), 2017 U.S. Open champ and 2018 French Open finalist Sloane Stephens (Chicago Smash), Grigor Dimitrov (Orange County Breakers), the Vegas Rollers’ Sam Querrey and Bob and Mike Bryan, the winningest and most accomplished doubles team in tennis history, Tennys Sandgren (Orlando Storm) and doubles specialists Rajeev Ram (Chicago), Jean-Julien Rojer (Springfield Lasers) and Neal Skupski (New York Empire), the 2019 WTT Male Most Valuable Player.
And they have a window where tennis fans will want to watch, learn and enjoy the game they have been missing, and maybe have been getting in a good social distant hit now and then in the weeks to come, as they wait for the larger names to return to play.
The win for WTT is on multiple levels; it connects them with an iconic location looking to push tourism at a critical time; it puts them in a window with less competition for tennis than in decades; it gives them the ability to deliver quality content on a platform looking for more than replays; it helps satisfy sponsor obligations; and it does all of this while being respectful and mindful of time and safety. It can also be done with the smallest of crews and support staff of probably any other league, all of which, as well as getting the buzz of being “first” adds up for a win for WTT.
Now can there be obstacles still to come? Of course. Is there a chance another tennis exhibition abroad may usurp some of the window? Possibly. However for WTT the storytelling, the messaging and the window is strong, and it is a solid score for the property and its partners and for all who love tennis. Let’s hope it wins on every level.
