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WORLD TEAMTENNIS PRO LEAGUE SETS SEASON FOR JULY 6-26 WTT Finals to be held July 28-30 at conclusion of regular season |
This year’s season opens earlier than previous years, allowing the WTT Finals to be played immediately following the conclusion of the regular season on the final weekend of July. Various WTT franchises have submitted bids to host the 2006 WTT Finals and the announcement of the venue for the championships will be made at the WTT Owners’ meetings in New York City next month.
Again this year, four teams – the top two from the Eastern Conference and the top two from the Western Conference – will advance to the season-ending finals. The four teams will be seeded based on their regular season records, which is a change from previous years when the semifinal matches featured intra-conference match-ups. If the host team does not qualify for the Finals, there will be a special quarterfinal match on Thursday, July 28, pitting the host team against the number four seed. The winner will advance to the Friday semifinals against the top seeded team.
“We have listened to our fans, owners and players and made some significant scheduling changes for the 2006 WTT season,” said Ilana Kloss, World TeamTennis CEO and Commissioner. “By moving the WTT Finals to immediately after the conclusion of the regular season we keep the momentum moving forward for the teams, improve the overall scheduling for the players and keep our fans happy by not having a major gap between the end of the season and the championship weekend.”
The draft of players for the 2006 WTT season will be held in Miami on March 28. Players who have participated in the co-ed league in recent years include Andre Agassi, Lindsay Davenport, Andy Roddick, Steffi Graf, Venus Williams, John McEnroe, Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and the world’s top-ranked doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan.
Now in its 31st consecutive year of play, World TeamTennis is well known for
introducing innovative elements to tennis. Instant replay, which debuted at WTT matches in 2005 as the WTT Coaches Challenge, marked the first time the technology had been used in a professional tennis match, will return to select WTT matches in 2006. Other WTT firsts include co-ed format, cumulative and no-ad scoring, on-court coaching, Supertiebreakers, multi-colored courts and player names on back of their shirts.
The unique gender-balanced team concept for WTT was created in the early 70s by League co-founders Billie Jean King and Larry King. The format used for a WTT Pro League match features teams comprised of two men, two women and a coach. Each match consists of five sets, with one set each of men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The regular season runs July 6-26 and the two top teams from both the Western and Eastern Conferences will battle for the King Trophy at the WTT Finals, July 28-30.
Advanta is the presenting sponsor of the WTT Pro League and the official business credit card of World TeamTennis. Official WTT Pro League sponsors also include Gatorade and Wilson Racquet Sports. For more information on WTT, visit www.WTT.com.
Media Contact: Rosie Crews, GEM Group – 817.684.0366 (rcrews@gemgroup.com)