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.
Competition format The 1976 World Team Tennis season included 10 teams split into two divisions (Eastern and Western). Each team was scheduled to play a regular-season schedule of 44 matches.
The top two teams in each division qualified for the playoffs and met each other in the division championship series. The first-place team was given a choice of hosting either the first and third or second and third matches of the series. The division champions met in the best-of-five World Team Tennis Finals with the lower seed hosting the first two matches and the higher seed hosting the remaining matches.
Each match comprised one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Starting with this season, the order of play for the entire match was determined by the coach of the home team. 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. Starting this season, if the team that won the final set was trailing in the match, the match went to overtime with the same players who participated in the final set remaining on the court. The leading team was required to win a game to end the match. If the match was tied at the end of five sets, or if the trailing team won enough games in overtime to tie the match, a super tiebreaker game was played between the players who participated in the final set using the same format as the set tiebreaker games.
Player draft WTT conducted its player draft for the 1976 season on December 11, 1975, at the Essex House in New York City. Teams made their selections in reverse order of their regular-season finish from the 1975 season. The players chosen in the first five rounds of the draft are listed in the tables below. The biggest news at the draft was the trade of the rights to Ilie Năstase by the New York Sets immediately after they used their third-round pick on him, to the Hawaii Leis. Năstase expressed interest in playing WTT but not in New York, because New York fans had widely criticized him for his on-court behavior and emotional outbursts. The Sets had previously agreed to allow the Leis to negotiate with Năstase with compensation going from Hawaii to New York if the Leis were to reach a deal with him. The Leis immediately announced that they had signed Năstase to a one-year contract worth in excess of $100,000. Leis owner Don Kelleher would not describe the amount with any more specificity than, "It was six figures." The Leis sent undisclosed cash consideration and future draft picks to the Sets to complete the deal.
First round Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars Linky Boshoff 2 Hawaii Leis Erik van Dillen 3 Cleveland Nets Arthur Ashe 4 Indiana Loves Olga Morozova 5 Boston Lobsters Mike Estep 6 Los Angeles Strings Dianne Fromholtz 7 Phoenix Racquets Rod Laver 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters Raúl Ramírez 9 New York Sets Julie Anthony 10 Pittsburgh Triangles Guillermo Vilas
Second round Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars Nancy Gunter 2 Hawaii Leis Billy Martin 3 Cleveland Nets Björn Borg 4 Indiana Loves Beth Norton 5 Boston Lobsters Roscoe Tanner 6 Los Angeles Strings Dick Stockton 7 Phoenix Racquets Stan Smith 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters Marcie Louie 9 New York Sets Phil Dent 10 Pittsburgh Triangles Dennis Ralston
Third round Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars Janice Metcalf 2 Hawaii Leis Onny Parun 3 Cleveland Nets Jimmy Connors 4 Indiana Loves Barbara Jordan 5 Boston Lobsters Pam Teeguarden 6 Los Angeles Strings John Alexander 7 Phoenix Racquets Colin Dibley 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters Jeff Borowiak 9 New York Sets Ilie Năstase 10 Pittsburgh Triangles Marie Neumanová
Fourth round Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars Charlie Pasarell 2 Hawaii Leis Zenda Liess 3 Cleveland Nets Wojciech Fibak 4 Indiana Loves Julie Heldman 5 Boston Lobsters Janet Newberry 6 Los Angeles Strings Sue Barker 7 Phoenix Racquets Jeanne Evert 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters Mima Jaušovec 9 New York Sets Natasha Chmyreva 10 Pittsburgh Triangles Lea Antonoplis
Fifth round Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars Kazuko Sawamatsu 2 Hawaii Leis Manuel Orantes 3 Cleveland Nets Valerie Ziegenfuss 4 Indiana Loves Lele Forood 5 Boston Lobsters Harold Solomon 6 Los Angeles Strings Cynthia Doerner 7 Phoenix Racquets Butch Walts 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters Raquel Giscafré 9 New York Sets Víctor Pecci 10 Pittsburgh Triangles Brian Gottfried
Standings Reference:
Eastern Division Team 1 New York Sets 43 33 10 .767 0 2 Pittsburgh Triangles 44 24 20 .545 9.5 3 Cleveland Nets 44 20 24 .455 13.5 4 Indiana Loves 44 19 25 .432 14.5 5 Boston Lobsters 43 18 25 .419 15
1976 Eastern Division Playoffs New York and Boston each played only 43 matches, because their August 9 match was canceled due to Hurricane Belle.
Western Division Team 1 Phoenix Racquets 44 30 14 .682 0 2 San Francisco Golden Gaters 44 28 16 .636 2 3 Los Angeles Strings 44 22 22 .500 8 4 San Diego Friars 44 13 31 .295 17 5 Hawaii Leis 44 12 32 .273 18
1976 Western Division Playoffs
Playoff bracket Reference:
Playoff match results Reference:
Home teams are in CAPS.
Eastern Division Championship (1) New York Sets vs. (2) Pittsburgh Triangles Date Match Result August 17 1 PITTSBURGH TRIANGLES 26, New York Sets 25, super tiebreaker (5–3) August 18 2 NEW YORK SETS 29, Pittsburgh Triangles 21 August 19 3 NEW YORK SETS 28, Pittsburgh Triangles 26, overtime ** Series: New York Sets 2, Pittsburgh Triangles 1
Western Division Championship (1) Phoenix Racquets vs. (2) San Francisco Golden Gaters Date Match Result August 16 1 San Francisco Golden Gaters 32, PHOENIX RACQUETS 16 August 17 2 SAN FRANCISCO GOLDEN GATERS 24, Phoenix Racquets 18 ** Series: San Francisco Golden Gaters 2, Phoenix Racquets 0
WTT Finals (1) New York Sets vs. (3) San Francisco Golden Gaters Date Match Result August 21 1 New York Sets 31, SAN FRANCISCO GOLDEN GATERS 23, overtime August 23 2 New York Sets 29, SAN FRANCISCO GOLDEN GATERS 21, overtime August 27 3 NEW YORK SETS 31, San Francisco Golden Gaters 13 ** Series: New York Sets 3, San Francisco Golden Gaters 0
Of the total of 8 playoff matches, home teams won 5 and lost 3. The higher seeds had 3 wins and 1 loss in their 4 home matches. The higher seeds won 2 of the 3 matchups.
Individual statistical leaders The table below shows the individual players and doubles teams who had the best winning percentages in each of the five events in WTT.
Event Player(s) Team Men's singles Sandy Mayer New York Sets Women's singles Chris Evert Phoenix Racquets Men's doubles Frew McMillan and Tom Okker San Francisco Golden Gaters Women's doubles Françoise Dürr and Betty Stöve San Francisco Golden Gaters Mixed doubles Ann Kiyomura and Ray Ruffels Indiana Loves
Individual honors Reference:
Award Recipient Team Male Most Valuable Player Sandy Mayer New York Sets Female Most Valuable Player Chris Evert Phoenix Racquets Male All-Star Match Most Valuable Player Tom Okker San Francisco Golden Gaters Female All-Star Match Most Valuable Player Dianne Fromholtz Los Angeles Strings Male Rookie of the Year Rod Laver San Diego Friars Female Rookie of the Year Chris Evert Phoenix Racquets Coach of the Year Fred Stolle New York Sets Male Playoffs Most Valuable Player Sandy Mayer New York Sets Female Playoffs Most Valuable Player Billie Jean King New York Sets
All-Star Classic The 1976 WTT All-Star Classic was played on July 10, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California. The West overcame a 21–17 deficit after four sets when Betty Stöve and Dianne Fromholtz beat Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade in a tiebreaker and then proceeded to win three consecutive overtime games to send the match to a super tiebreaker. A crowd of 12,581 fans watched both teams make substitutions for the super tiebreaker. Chris Evert entered for Fromholtz, while Billie Jean King and Evonne Goolagong replaced Wade and Navratilova. Evert forced Goolagong into an error to seal the West victory.
See also
1976 WTA Tour 1976 Men's Grand Prix circuit
References
External links Official WTT website