World Team Tennis

By Patrick Mondout

World Team Tennis was a team-based professional tennis league with franchises in several cities which lasted from 1974-1978. It was the forerunner of the modern World TeamTennis league.

At a glance... LEAGUE FACTS Established 1973 Folded 1979 Commissioners Jordan Kaiser (1974) Frank Fuhrer (1975) Larry King (1976) Butch Buchholz (1976-78) FRANCHISES Anaheim Oranges Baltimore Banners Boston Lobsters Buffalo Royals Chicago Aces Cleveland Nets Denver Racquets Detroit Loves Florida Flamingos Hawaii Leis Houston E-Z Riders Indiana Loves Los Angeles Strings Minnesota Buckskins New Orleans Nets New York Apples New York Sets Pennsylvania Keystones Philadelphia Freedoms Phoenix Racquets Pittsburgh Triangles Pittsburgh Nets San Diego Fliers San Diego Friars San Francisco Golden Gaters Seattle Cascades Portland Cascades Soviets Toronto Royals CHAMPIONS 1974  Denver Racquets 1975  Pittsburgh Triangles 1976  New York Sets 1977  New York Apples 1978  Los Angeles Strings

Pittsburgh businessman Chuck Reichblum came up with the idea in 1973 and put the league together with the help of local attorney Bill Sutton. They called their league the National Tennis League (NTL) began hitting the road looking to sell franchises when reigning tennis queen Billie Jean King suddenly announced similar plans.

See also WTT Results:  1974 1975 1976 1977 1978

Billie Jean Moffitt and her future husband, Larry King, thought of the idea for a professional team tennis league while attending Los Angeles State College in 1962. King and a group of businessmen announced plans for the International Professional Tennis League (IPTL).

The two groups met and World Team Tennis was born. The teams would play in the summer months and take time off for Wimbledon and be finished before the start of the U.S. Open.

Predictably, not everyone was happy with the new league. French Open officials initially barred all players who had WTT contracts from participating. French officials were concerned that the summer league would ruin the summer tournament season, which included the French Open. In fact, the rule cost Jimmy Connors a chance at a Grand Slam.

The inaugural season was played by 16 teams from May to August of 1974. The seasons were interrupted to allow players to compete in major events (such as Wimbledon).

Keeping Score

Scoring was kept on a no-ad basis unlike the traditional love-15-30-40. Matches consisted of five sets: men's and women's singles and doubles plus mixed doubles. Scores for the five sets were added and the team with the most points won a match, making each game in each set - even if an overmatched player was down a hopeless 5-0 - important. The rules were changed midseason resulting in one set each of women's and men's singles plus women's and men's doubles and mixed doubles.

Innovation

As with all the brash new leagues of recent years (ABA, WHA, WFL), tradition was largely ignored in favor of innovation and fan-friendly rule changes. The women's movement was big at the time and this league featured teams consisting of both sexes and even female coaches, such as King, presiding over male players. The league also went with colorful uniform and tennis balls, in stark contrast to what could be found at Wimbledon. Cheering rather than polite and subdued applause was also encouraged. The league even allowed player substitution during matches.

As with most new leagues, attracting paying fans, securing a TV contract, signing top players, and, perhaps most importantly, having patient owners willing to absorb losses, were the major issues for the fledgling league.

The league charged between $4-$10 per ticket, which left many to avoid the games altogether and it failed to land a major TV contract.

The league did attract some of the best players in the world: Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Vitas Gerulaitis, Evonne Goolagong, Rod Laver and his nemesis Billie Jean King, Ilie Nastase, Rosie Casals, John Newcombe, Virginia Wade and Roy Emerson all played at one time or another for a WTT franchise.

The league was not particularly well run with four league presidents in four years and the joke in early 1976 was that the league would hire Sid Caesar so that they could claim they had had a Kaiser (Jordan), Fuhrer (Frank), King (Larry), and a Caesar as president.

Following the 1978 season, every team but two folded. A confident WTT announced that it had added teams in Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego, but after five seasons of mounting losses, the World Team Tennis league ceased operations on March 8, 1979.

Rising From The Ashes

Billie Jean King would get a new league going in 1981, but with tighter budgets and lesser-known players. It was known as Team Tennis for the first few years before Dominos Pizza stepped in with corporate sponsorship. It evolved into what is now known as World TeamTennis and the new league now even claims the old WTT as part of its heritage.