The 2008 World TeamTennis season was the 33rd season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States.
The New York Buzz defeated the Kansas City Explorers, 21–18, in the WTT Final to win the King Trophy as WTT champions.
Competition format The 2008 World TeamTennis season included 11 teams split into two conferences (Eastern and Western). The Eastern Conference had six teams, and the Western Conference had five teams. Each team played a 14-match regular-season schedule with seven home and seven away matches. The top teams in each conference were the conference champions. WTT Championship Weekend matches were played at Allstate Stadium at Westfield Galleria at Roseville in Roseville, California. The conference champions and runners-up qualified for the playoffs. In addition, there was a wild-card team that was either the host team (the Sacramento Capitals) or the team with the best record among teams that did not finish first or second in their conference, if the Capitals qualified based on finishing first or second. The teams were seeded 1 through 5, regardless of conference, with the top three seeds getting a bye to the WTT Semifinals. The fourth seed and the wild card met in a wild card match with the winner facing the number 1 seed in the semifinals. The other semifinal match pitted the number 2 seed against the number 3 seed. The winners of the semifinal matches met in the WTT Final to decide the winner of the King Trophy and the league championship. Higher seeded teams were treated as "home" teams in playoff matches and had the right to determine order of play.
Franchise contraction and expansion The Houston Wranglers folded following the 2007 season. Owner Linda McIngvale said, "This is not the right type of community for the Wranglers. We're just too big of a city with too many options. There's a jillion other things to do in the summertime in Houston." The team sold fewer than half of the 4,500 available tickets for a match that featured Anna Kournikova playing for the visitors. Late in the 2007 season, attendance at Wranglers' home matches was typically less than 1,000.
The Washington Kastles joined the league as an expansion franchise, making their debut in 2008. The team was founded by a group led by venture capitalist and entrepreneur Mark Ein, a native of Washington, D.C. At the press conference announcing the team's creation, Ein said, "I am thrilled to bring World TeamTennis to our area. WTT tennis is great entertainment emphasizing fan interaction, and it is the only major sport with men and women playing together on the same team. The Washington Kastles season will be an exciting summertime addition to our local economy and a fun activity for our entire community." The team was named after Kastle Systems, LLC, a provider of building and office security systems, of which Ein is the majority owner and managing member.
Drafts Marquee player draft The 2008 WTT Marquee Player Draft was conducted in New York City on March 19, 2008. The order in which teams selected was based on the results the teams achieved in 2007 with weaker teams selecting earlier and stronger teams selecting later. The draft order is ordinarily determined as follows: Nonplayoff teams ranked from worst regular-season record to best Conference championship loser with the worse record of the two Conference championship loser with the better record of the two WTT Final loser WTT champion Expansion teams select in the middle of each round. If there is an even number of teams, an expansion team selects in the middle position that is closest to the first pick. There were seven nonplayoff teams in 2007, and ranked from worst record to best record, they were Houston Wranglers Newport Beach Breakers St. Louis Aces Boston Lobsters New York Sportimes Delaware Smash Kansas City Explorers However, the Wranglers folded prior to the draft. Therefore, the Breakers, Aces, Lobsters, Sportimes, Smash and Explorers were assigned the preliminary first through sixth draft positions. The Philadelphia Freedoms lost the 2007 Eastern Conference Championship Match and had a worse record than the Springfield Lasers, who lost the Western Conference Championship Match. Therefore, the Freedoms were assigned the preliminary seventh draft position and the Lasers the eighth. The New York Buzz lost the 2007 WTT Final and were assigned the preliminary ninth draft position. The 2007 WTT champion Sacramento Capitals were assigned the preliminary tenth draft position. The addition of the expansion Washington Kastles resulted in 11 teams in the league, and the Kastles were assigned the sixth draft position putting them in the middle with five teams drafting before them, and five teams drafting after them. This resulted in the Explorers, Freedoms, Lasers, Buzz and Capitals each moving down one position.
Teams could protect up to two marquee players or doubles teams to which they held the rights from the previous season or acquired in a trade. Rights to marquee players could be traded from one team to another before or during the draft, and the acquiring team could protect and then select those players. The selections made are shown in the tables below.
First round Player chosen Notes 1 Newport Beach Breakers Lindsay Davenport N 2 St. Louis Aces Anna Kournikova Y 3 Boston Lobsters Martina Navratilova N 4 New York Sportimes John McEnroe Y 5 Delaware Smash Pass – 6 Washington Kastles Serena Williams N 7 Kansas City Explorers Bob and Mike Bryan Y Doubles team 8 Philadelphia Freedoms Venus Williams Y 9 Springfield Lasers Pass – 10 New York Buzz Pass – 11 Sacramento Capitals Pass –
Second round Player chosen Notes 1 Newport Beach Breakers Pass – 2 St. Louis Aces Andy Roddick N 3 Boston Lobsters Pass – 4 New York Sportimes Pass – 5 Delaware Smash Pass – 6 Washington Kastles Pass – 7 Kansas City Explorers Pass – 8 Philadelphia Freedoms Pass – 9 Springfield Lasers Pass – 10 New York Buzz Pass – 11 Sacramento Capitals Pass –
Roster player draft The 2008 WTT Roster Player Draft was conducted in Miami on April 1, 2008. Teams selected in the same order as was determined for the Marquee Player Draft. Teams could protect up to four players to which they held the rights from the previous season or acquired in a trade. Rights to roster players could be traded from one team to another before or during the draft, and the acquiring team could protect and then select those players. In addition, the rights to make a selection in a particular position within the draft could be traded from one team to another. The selections made are shown in the tables below.
First round Player chosen 1 Newport Beach Breakers Ramón Delgado Y 2 Sacramento Capitals Eric Butorac N 3 Boston Lobsters Jan-Michael Gambill N 4 New York Sportimes Bethanie Mattek N 5 Kansas City Explorers Rennae Stubbs N 6 Washington Kastles Justin Gimelstob N 7 Delaware Smash Alex Bogomolov Jr. N 8 Philadelphia Freedoms Lisa Raymond Y 9 Springfield Lasers Tamarine Tanasugarn Y 10 New York Buzz Yaroslava Shvedova N 11 Sacramento Capitals Elena Likhovtseva Y
Second round Player chosen 1 Newport Beach Breakers Angelika Bachmann N 2 St. Louis Aces Jelena Pandžić N 3 Boston Lobsters Amir Hadad Y 4 New York Sportimes Jesse Witten Y 5 Delaware Smash Ryler DeHeart N 6 Washington Kastles Sacha Jones N 7 Kansas City Explorers Květa Peschke N 8 Philadelphia Freedoms Travis Parrott Y 9 Springfield Lasers Shenay Perry N 10 New York Buzz Nathan Healey N 11 St. Louis Aces Jasmin Wöhr Y
Third round Player chosen 1 Newport Beach Breakers Bruno Echagaray N 2 St. Louis Aces Uladzimir Ignatik N 3 Boston Lobsters Marie-Ève Pelletier N 4 New York Sportimes Hana Šromová Y 5 Delaware Smash Chris Haggard Y 6 Washington Kastles Scott Oudsema N 7 Kansas City Explorers James Auckland N 8 Delaware Smash Madison Brengle N 9 Springfield Lasers Todd Perry Y 10 New York Buzz Gabriela Navrátilová Y 11 Sacramento Capitals Tamaryn Hendler N
Fourth round Player chosen 1 Newport Beach Breakers Michaela Paštiková Y 2 St. Louis Aces Travis Rettenmaier N 3 Boston Lobsters Raquel Kops-Jones N 4 New York Sportimes Brian Wilson N 5 Delaware Smash Christina Fusano N 6 Washington Kastles Mashona Washington N 7 Kansas City Explorers Dušan Vemić Y 8 Philadelphia Freedoms Audra Cohen N 9 Springfield Lasers Glenn Weiner Y 10 New York Buzz Vladimir Obradović N 11 Sacramento Capitals Sam Warburg Y
Notes:
Roster-Exempt Player Draft WTT conducted its 2008 Roster-Exempt Player Draft on the same day as its Roster Player Draft. Teams drafted in the same order as in the Marquee Player Draft and the Roster Player Draft. Teams were permitted to select part-time players classified by the league as either roster-exempt based on their recent appearances in international team events or featured roster players based on WTT's discretion. The selections made are shown in the table below. Player chosen Notes 1 Newport Beach Breakers Pass – 2 St. Louis Aces Pass – 3 Boston Lobsters Pass – 4 New York Sportimes Pass – 5 Delaware Smash Liezel Huber Y 6 Washington Kastles Pass – 7 Kansas City Explorers Pass – 8 Philadelphia Freedoms Pass – 9 Springfield Lasers Pass – 10 New York Buzz Pass – 11 Sacramento Capitals Dmitry Tursunov N Featured roster player
Event chronology Off-season July 25, 2007: The Houston Wranglers announced that the franchise would fold. February 14, 2008: WTT announced that an expansion franchise had been awarded to Washington, D.C. to begin play in the 2008 season. The team was founded by a group led by Mark Ein, and it was named the Washington Kastles. March 18, 2008: The Boston Lobsters announced that their home matches would be played at the Ferncroft Country Club in Middleton, Massachusetts starting with the 2008 season. March 19, 2008: WTT conducted its Marquee Player Draft. March 19, 2008: The Philadelphia Freedoms announced that their home matches would be played at King of Prussia mall in Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania starting with the 2008 season. April 1, 2008: WTT conducted its Roster Player Draft and its Roster-Exempt Player Draft. April 30, 2008: The Washington Kastles announced that their home matches would be played in a temporary stadium to be constructed on the future site of CityCenterDC in Downtown Washington.
Regular season July 4, 2008: The Washington Kastles played their inaugural match and recorded a 23–19 overtime victory on the road against the Philadelphia Freedoms. Vince Spadea was the first player on the court representing the Kastles, winning the opening set of men's singles, 5–3. Mashona Washington and Scott Oudsema closed out the victory by winning the first game of overtime playing mixed doubles. July 8, 2008: The Washington Kastles made their home debut and suffered a 22–19 overtime loss to the Boston Lobsters. July 8, 2008: In an early-season matchup of two undefeated teams, the New York Sportimes defeated the New York Buzz at home, 22–20, in overtime, to improve their record to 3 wins and 0 losses and take sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. The Sportimes would remain in first place until the final day of the regular season. July 11, 2008: The Washington Kastles earned their first-ever home victory, a 22–21 win over the New York Buzz in a super tiebreaker. The Buzz led the match, 18–13, after four sets. Robby Ginepri won the closing set of men's singles against Nathan Healey, 5–3, to cut the deficit to 21–18. Ginepri then won three straight overtime games to send the match to a super tiebreaker, which he won, 7–4. July 13, 2008: After starting the season with six consecutive wins, the New York Sportimes suffered their first loss, a 23–17 defeat on the road against the Boston Lobsters. July 15, 2008: After starting the season with seven consecutive wins, the Kansas City Explorers suffered their only loss of the regular season, a 23–17 defeat at home against the New York Buzz.