| Duration | May 6 – August 18, 1974 |
|---|---|
| Eastern Division Champions champions | Philadelphia Freedoms |
| Western Division Champions champions | Denver Racquets |
| WTT Finals | |
| Date | August 26, 1974 (Match 2) |
| Venue | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Match 2) |
| Champions | Denver Racquets |
The 1974 World Team Tennis season was the inaugural season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. The Denver Racquets defeated the Philadelphia Freedoms in the WTT Finals to win the league's first championship. [1] [2]
The 1974 World Team Tennis season included 16 teams split into two divisions (Eastern and Western). The Eastern Division was further split into two sections (Atlantic and Central) which each had four teams. The Western Division was also split into two sections (Gulf Plains and Pacific) which also had four teams each. Each team played a 44-match regular-season schedule with 22 home and 22 away matches. The section champions and the two teams in each division with the best records among non section champions qualified for the division championship semifinals. The team with the best record among playoff qualifiers from the division played the team with the fourth best record in the semifinals. The teams with the second and third best records played each other in the semifinals. Teams were not given preference in seeding based on being champions of their section. The semifinal winners met the other semifinals winners from their own division to determine the division champions. The division champions met in the World Team Tennis Final. [3]
At the start of the season, each match comprised two sets of men's singles, two sets of women's singles and two sets of mixed doubles. No men's doubles or women's doubles were played. The mixed doubles sets were played as the third and sixth sets. The coach of the home team decided whether to play men's or women's singles first and fourth or second and fifth. WTT changed the match format on May 18, 1974, to one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, because of concern that the matches were taking too long. [4] The order of play was women's doubles first, men's doubles third and mixed doubles fifth. The coach of the home team decided whether men's or women's singles would be played second or fourth. Games were decided by the first player or doubles team to reach four points with no-ad scoring. Each set ended when one team had won either six or seven games and had an advantage over its opponent of at least two games. Sets that were tied 6–6 were decided by a tiebreaker. Set tiebreaker games were nine total points with the first player or doubles team to reach five the winner. An advantage of only one point was needed to win a tiebreaker game. Matches could end when one team built an insurmountable lead. For example, if a team had a 24–17 lead after four sets, the fifth set (mixed doubles) would not be played. If a team had a 22–19 lead after four sets, the match could end if the leading team won four games in the fifth set, since it would be impossible for the trailing team to make up the three-game deficit that existed when the set started. If the match was tied at the end of five sets, a super tiebreaker game was played between the mixed doubles teams using the same format as the set tiebreaker games. Teams often agreed to play dead sets even if the outcome of the match had already been decided or to play sets to completion when the outcome of the match was decided within that set.
Playoff matchups in the division semifinals and division championship series were played in two legs with each team hosting one match and the cumulative score determining the winner. The higher seed had the choice to host either the first or the second match. Should the cumulative score be tied after the conclusion of the second match, a series tiebreaker game was played to determine the series winner. The WTT Finals were a best-of-three series. [3] The lower seed hosted the first match. The higher seed hosted the second match and the third, if necessary.
On May 22, 1973, WTT announced the formation of the league with the following 16 franchises: [5] [6]
| Team | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Boston | Raymond Ciccolo |
| Chicago | Jordon H. Kaiser, Walter Kaiser |
| Cincinnati | Bill DeWitt, Jr., Brian Heekin |
| Denver | Bud Fischer, Frank Goldberg, Ben Press |
| Detroit | Seymour Brode, Marshall Greenspan |
| Houston | E.Z. Jones, Betty Jones |
| Los Angeles | Dennis Murphy, Fred Barman, Jerry Fine, Jerry Buss |
| Minnesota | Lee Meade, Len Vannelli, John Finley |
| New York | Jerry Saperstein |
| Philadelphia | Dick Butera, Ken Butera |
| Phoenix | Gary Davidson |
| Pittsburgh Triangles | John H. Hillman, III, William Sutton, Chuck Reichblum |
| St. Louis | Ted Cohen, Butch Buchholz |
| San Diego | Dr. Leonard Bloom |
| San Francisco | Larry King, Cathie Anderson |
| Buffalo | John F. Bassett, John C. Eaton, III |
As shown in the above table, the Pittsburgh Triangles had a team name from the time the franchise was chartered.
On May 30, 1973, the San Diego franchise announced that it had adopted the name San Diego Swingers. [7]
Before the WTT inaugural draft on August 3, 1973, the St. Louis franchise had relocated and was referred to as the Miami franchise at the draft. [8]
Also before the draft, the Cincinnati franchise had been sold to Joseph Zingale and relocated to Cleveland. [8]
Finally, by the time the inaugural draft took place, the San Francisco franchise had adopted the name the Golden Gate Otters [9] and was referred to as the Golden Gate franchise during the draft. [8]
On August 21, 1973, the New York franchise announced it had adopted the name New York Sets. [10]
By September 1973, the Los Angeles franchise had been named the Los Angeles Strings. [9]
Before the start of the 1974 season, the Phoenix franchise was sold to Howard Fine, Gerald Klauber, Joseph Rivkin and Robert E. Bradley, Jr. who moved it to Baltimore.
Also before the start of the 1974 season, the San Diego Swingers were sold to Don Kelleher who moved them to Honolulu.
Finally, before the start of the 1974 season, the Golden Gate Otters decided to simply call the team the Golden Gaters in dealings with the public. Since it would have been absurd to call the team the Golden Gate Golden Gaters, and the league used a location to identify all its teams, WTT reverted to using San Francisco, the location for which the original charter was issued, when referring to the team. They were listed in official WTT standings as the San Francisco Golden Gaters. [1]
The remaining charter franchises adopted names before the start of the 1974 season. The team identification and naming history of the 16 charter franchises from the founding of WTT to the start of the inaugural season is as follows:
WTT conducted a lottery to determine the order of selection for its inaugural draft held on August 3, 1973. The selection order determined as a result of the lottery was used for odd-numbered rounds, and it was reversed for even-numbered rounds. Each team was entitled to select 20 players. Teams that could sign players to contracts before the draft had to identify these players as preferential choices and use their earliest picks on the players signed. The players selected in the first 10 rounds of the draft [8] are shown in the tables below.
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Total attendance during the season was 833,966, for an average of 2,369 over 352 playing dates. [11]
| Division Semifinals (August 19–20) | Division Championships (August 22–23) | WTT Finals (August 25–26) | ||||||||||||
| E1 | Philadelphia Freedoms | 49 | ||||||||||||
| E4 | Cleveland Nets | 44 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | Philadelphia Freedoms | 52 | ||||||||||||
| Eastern Division | ||||||||||||||
| E3 | Pittsburgh Triangles | 45 | ||||||||||||
| E2 | Detroit Loves | 27 | ||||||||||||
| E3 | Pittsburgh Triangles | 63 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Philadelphia Freedoms | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Denver Racquets | 2 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | Denver Racquets | 61 | ||||||||||||
| W4 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | 41 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | Denver Racquets | 54 | ||||||||||||
| Western Division | ||||||||||||||
| W2 | Minnesota Buckskins | 44 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Minnesota Buckskins | 48 | ||||||||||||
| W3 | Houston E-Z Riders | 47 | ||||||||||||
Eastern Division semifinals
| Western Division semifinals
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Eastern Division Championship
| Western Division Championship
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WTT Finals
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Of the total of 14 playoff matches, home teams won only 6 and lost 8. The higher seeds had 3 wins and 4 losses in their 7 home matches. The higher seeds won 5 of the 7 series.
The table below shows the individual players and doubles teams who had the best winning percentages in each of the five events in WTT. [2]
| Event | Player(s) | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Men's singles | Jimmy Connors | Baltimore Banners |
| Women's singles | Billie Jean King | Philadelphia Freedoms |
| Men's doubles | John Newcombe and Dick Stockton | Houston E-Z Riders |
| Women's doubles | Billie Jean King and Julie Anthony | Philadelphia Freedoms |
| Mixed doubles | Kerry Harris and Allan Stone | Detroit Loves |
Reference: [2]
| Award | Recipient | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player | Billie Jean King | Philadelphia Freedoms |
| Coach of the Year | Tony Roche | Denver Racquets |
| Playoffs Most Valuable Player | Andrew Pattison | Denver Racquets |
World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.
The New York Buzz was a professional tennis team competing in World TeamTennis (WTT). The team was originally based in Schenectady, New York from 1995 to 2007, before moving to Albany, New York in 2008, and Guilderland, New York in 2009. The team was founded as the New York OTBzz in 1995, before changing its name to the Schenectady County Electrics in 1999, and finally adopting the name New York Buzz in 2001. In 2008, the team won its third Eastern Conference Championship and went on to defeat the Kansas City Explorers to capture its first and only King Trophy in its fourth appearance in the WTT Final.
The New York Sportimes were a professional tennis team competing in World TeamTennis (WTT). The team was originally based in eastern Long Island from 2000 to 2002, before moving to Westchester County, New York in 2003, and then to New York City in 2009. The team was founded as the New York Hamptons in 2000, before changing its name to the New York Sportimes in 2003. In 2005, the team made its first playoff appearance and went on to defeat the Newport Beach Breakers in the WTT Final to win its first King Trophy.
The 2014 World TeamTennis season was the 39th season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Pursuant to a sponsorship agreement with Mylan N.V., the official name of the league was Mylan World TeamTennis in 2014. The Washington Kastles defeated the Springfield Lasers in the WTT Final to win their fourth consecutive King Trophy.
The San Diego Aviators are a World TeamTennis (WTT) team that plays at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California in the United States. The team is the successor to two WTT franchises. The first was created in 1995, as the New York OTBzz, later renamed the Schenectady County Electrics and then the New York Buzz. The second was created in 2000, as the New York Hamptons, later renamed the New York Sportimes. The Aviators, founded in 1995, are the oldest continuously operating franchise in WTT. The team has won the King Trophy as WTT champions three times: once playing as the New York Sportimes in 2005, once as the New York Buzz in 2008, and once as the San Diego Aviators in 2016. As of 2016, the three championships is the second most of any active WTT franchise behind the Washington Kastles, who have won six.
The 2014 San Diego Aviators season was the 20th season of the franchise in World TeamTennis (WTT) and its first playing in San Diego, California.
The Phoenix Racquets were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The team was founded as the Denver Racquets and won the 1974 WTT championship in the league's inaugural season, before moving to Phoenix in 1975. Following the 1978 season, eight of the 10 WTT franchises folded leaving only the Racquets and the San Francisco Golden Gaters prepared to participate in the 1979 season. WTT suspended operations of the league in March 1979, ending the Racquets existence.
The Philadelphia Freedoms were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT) founded by Dick and Ken Butera. The Freedoms played only one season in Philadelphia before being sold at the end of the 1974 season, moving to Boston and changing their name to the Boston Lobsters. Led by WTT Most Valuable Player Billie Jean King, the Freedoms posted the best regular-season record in WTT's inaugural season with 39 wins and 5 losses. The Freedoms won the Eastern Division Championship and reached the WTT Finals where they lost to the Denver Racquets.
The Boston Lobsters were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT) founded by Dick and Ken Butera as the Philadelphia Freedoms. The Freedoms played only one season in Philadelphia before being sold on March 27, 1975, moving to Boston and changing their name to the Lobsters. Following the 1978 season, Lobsters owner Robert Kraft announced that the franchise would fold.
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The San Francisco Golden Gaters were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The Golden Gaters won two Western Division Championships and lost in the WTT Finals both times. The team was founded in 1973 and made the playoffs in each of the five seasons in which it participated in the league. Following the 1978 season, eight of the then 10 WTT franchises folded leaving only the Golden Gaters and the Phoenix Racquets prepared to participate in the 1979 season. WTT suspended operations of the league in March 1979, ending the Golden Gaters existence.
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The 1975 World Team Tennis season was the second season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. The Pittsburgh Triangles defeated the San Francisco Golden Gaters in the WTT Finals to win the league championship.
The San Diego Friars were an expansion franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT) founded in 1975. The Friars qualified for the WTT playoffs twice in their four seasons and won the 1978 Western Division Championship. The team folded following the 1978 season.
The 2015 World TeamTennis season was the 40th season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Pursuant to a sponsorship agreement with Mylan N.V., the official name of the league was Mylan World TeamTennis in 2015. The Washington Kastles defeated the Austin Aces in the WTT Final to win their fifth consecutive King Trophy.
The 2016 World TeamTennis season was the 41st season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Pursuant to a sponsorship agreement with Mylan N.V., the official name of the league was Mylan World TeamTennis in 2016.
The 2016 San Diego Aviators season was the 22nd season of the franchise in World TeamTennis (WTT) and its third playing in San Diego County, California.
The 2016 Orange County Breakers season was the 14th season of the franchise in World TeamTennis (WTT) and its 12th season in Orange County, California, the first after returning from playing two seasons in Greater Austin, Texas as the Austin Aces.
The 1976 World Team Tennis season was the third season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Led by regular season and playoff male most valuable player Sandy Mayer and female playoff most valuable player Billie Jean King, the New York Sets swept the San Francisco Golden Gaters in the WTT Finals to win the league championship.
