The 2005 season marked 30 years of play for the World Team Tennis (WTT) Pro League. With tennis news surrounding the most popular players in the sport, Pro Leaguers are always in high demand with the tennis news media. The World Team Tennis Pro League is comprised of the Eastern and Western Conference, each of which consists of 6 teams for a total of 12 in competition. It's regular season annually occurs during three weeks in the summer. The two best teams, one from each conference, will advance to the World Team Tennis Finals. Each team consists of two mean, two women and one coach. Team competitions feature a total of five events, including one set of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. The first team to reach five games wins each set. If a set reaches all four, a nin-point tiebreaker is played. With competitions regularly televised on national tennis news programs, including ESPN2, World Team Tennis is very popular among sports enthusiasts and tennis news in general. The concept was developed in the early 1970s by Larry and Billie Jean King with the WTT Pro League first competing in 1974 with a 5-year contract. After a brief hiatus, the Pro League resumed in 1981 and has been a highlight in tennis news for the 25 years that followed. In 2006, the WTT Pro League will celebrate their 31st season of play. Since it's debut, some of the greatest names in tennis news have competed in the league, including Andre Agassi, Any Roddick, Anna Kournikova, Venus & Serena Williams, Monica Seles, John McEnroe, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and many others. As it's popularity grew, and tennis news coverage increased, the World Team Tennis organization welcomed over 150,000 fans in annual attendance. There is a good reason behind the fan craze and that is because WTT is all about the fans and serves up each experience with a side of excitement. Many of the rules governing the World Team Tennis association are designed in order to make the game a fan-friendly sport, which seems to be working with attendance steadily rising each year. During each WTT event, fans are encouraged to participate by being vocal about a great play. In addition, they are free to enter and exit the stadium during the competition. But, for those who stay, music is often played between games in order to keep the crowd excitement intact. World Team Tennis is regularly covered on tennis news programs, in tennis news publications and on the internet. |
