2020 World TeamTennis season gets underway

It’s safe to say the 45th season of World TeamTennis (WTT), which begins this Sunday and runs through Aug. 2, will be unlike any other. In order to play the season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, all nine teams will be competing at one location, The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

WTT has been working with state health officials to create a safe environment for the competition.

“All the procedures are in place,” said WTT CEO Carlos Silva. “We are very happy with what we have done, but also know every single day we need to be diligent, as we have been over the last couple of months.”

All players and personnel will have self-quarantined for 14 days prior to arriving in West Virginia, and then they will be tested for COVID-19 when they arrive at The Greenbrier. They will allow up to 500 fans in the resort’s 2,500-seat stadium (20 percent capacity), and fans are required to wear masks. In case of rain, there is an indoor facility that will have a capacity of 250 fans.

The WTT champion will receive the King Trophy, which is named for Hall of Famer and WTT co-founder Billie Jean King.

The Springfield (Mo.) Lasers have won back-to-back WTT titles. The field is larger this season, as WTT added a ninth franchise, the Chicago Smash. Sloane Stephens (pictured above), 2017 US Open women’s singles champion, jumped at the chance to join the Chicago team, since she spends lots of time there with her coach, Kamau Murray. Not coincidentally, Murray will coach the Smash.

“If you look at the lineups of all the teams, they are stacked, which is amazing,” said Stephens, entering her sixth WTT season. “There is going to be a lot of good competition. It is really fast play, so it will be really interesting to see how people play after not playing for a while. I think it will be great competition.”

Stephens isn’t the only former US Open champ competing in WTT in 2020. Two-time Flushing Meadows singles champ Venus Williams plays for the Washington Kastles. Five-time men’s doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan play for the Vegas Rollers. Three-time singles champ Kim Clijsters, continuing her second comeback from retirement, will play this season for the New York Empire. 

Other notable Americans participating in WTT include: Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, Mardy Fish, Taylor Fritz, Tennys Sandgren, Sofia Kenin, CoCo Vandeweghe, Caty McNally, Taylor Townsend and Danielle Collins.

Clijsters, who first retired in 2007 to start a family, began her second comeback earlier this year but had only played two tournaments before the shutdown.

“We will see how everyone reacts after being off for a few months,” said Clijsters. “This is a great opportunity to work towards what comes next, and I am looking forward to the team competition.”

Stephens agreed.

“It’s good to have the schedule set for the three weeks,” said Stephens. “It’ll be nice to have some structure for everyone playing, and to be able to have that competition and be around your competitors again in that environment will be good.”

While making sure all precautions are taken, Silva is optimistic the 2020 season will be a success for WTT. 

“I think we are building World TeamTennis to be a great, top property,” he said. ”I'm not interested in running a mediocre property. I don't think Kim and Sloane would want to play for a mediocre property. We've got to continue to raise it. It is very important that we gave everything that we could to make 2020 happen. As I've said to others along the way, it only takes 30 seconds to cancel the season. We worked very hard every single day trying to figure out what is the right thing to do that would allow us to play, but also make sure that our players and our staff would also be safe. We are going to stick to those protocols. We are going to work very hard today and tomorrow and the next day—it doesn't end—to make that happen.”

Among the precautions, there will be no ballboys or ballgirls at the event. Silva half-jokingly wondered if the fun-loving Bryan brothers might serve as ballboys for their teammates’ matches.

Despite the Bryans’ animated behavior on the court, Silva was quick to point out that players are not allowed to high-five or chest bump.

“We’re going to ask them not to do that,” said Silva. “I can’t guarantee they won’t do it out of habit doing it for 25 years, but we are telling everyone not to do that.”

The league’s 63-match regular season will be played over 19 consecutive days, from July 12-30. The semifinals will be held Aug. 1, and the championship is Aug. 2. All of WTT’s 2020 regular season and playoff matches will be televised or streamed on CBS, CBS Sports Network, Tennis Channel or the ESPN family of networks. In addition, select matches will be live-streamed on ESPN+, Facebook Watch or WTT.com.