2023 Expansion: World Team Tennis WTT Plans to Add Franchises

Many fans and bookies are interested in WTT 2023 plans. Will WTT expand this year? Let’s discuss this topic in more detail, based on official sources we can trust. 

World Team Tennis, the nation’s professional mixed-team tennis league, has announced that it is accepting expansion proposals from potential owner groups and markets interested in acquiring the WTT franchise.

WTT, which played in one location during the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, wants to return to playing at places organized by individual team markets in the summer of 2023.

“We are pleased to announce that WTT is committed to expanding the franchise and returning to hosting matches in select U.S. cities in 2023,” said the WTT Chairman and CEO Eric Davidson. “While hosting all WTT matches at the same venue in 2020 and 2021 was necessary due to the pandemic, our fans have missed the availability of teams in their home markets, and we are excited to bring that model back in 2023.”

“Since the 2021 season ended in late November and COVID damaged our franchises, we decided to take our time with the 2022 season to allow our teams to recover as we plan to resume in the summer of 2023,” Davidson said.

We also want to note that for potential owner groups and markets interested in acquiring a WTT franchise, the expansion franchise fee is set at $1,000,000. The league is also open to attracting new investors and owners at the league level as WTT seeks to continue its growth as a leader in professional team tennis. It’s a great opportunity for investors to become a part of a big sport and the history of tennis.

Introduction And Brief History of WTT

World Team Tennis (WTT) is an annual professional team tennis tournament held in the United States. WTT league games are usually played during the summer months. Unlike other team tennis tournaments, WTT is played by club teams made up of players from different countries.

History of the Emergence of WTT

The idea of competing in professional tennis teams belongs to Billie-Jean King and Larry King in the early 1970s, when the ATP and WTA professional tours were just beginning to develop.

The first season of the World Team Tennis professional league took place in 1974. After five seasons, the competition was discontinued, but resumed in 1981 and has been held annually since then. Until 1991, it was called Team Tennis, but in 1992 they renamed it again.

Tournament Rules

Each team in the league includes a minimum of four players – two men and two women. A match between teams consists of five sets: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles, the order of which may vary from match to match. Substitutions are permitted during the match, including during a set.

After they reduce the league to six teams, they all meet each other at least twice a season in a group tournament. The top two teams in the group game meet each other in the final match. The tournament’s main trophy is the King Trophy, named after Billie-Jean King.

How Are The Points Awarded?

Unlike other tennis competitions, whether it is a game, set, or match, one can observe a rule requiring a win by two points.

A game is played until one side wins by four points. When the score is 40-40, the serving team has the right to decide which side serves the deciding ball. If a mixed double set is played, the serving and receiving players must be of the same gender.

Each set is played until five games have been won by either side. When the score is 4-4 in games, a tie-break shall be played up to 5 points. When the score is 4-4 in a tie-break game, the ninth ball is served by the player who served the eighth ball and the receiving player has the right to choose the side of the court.

The last set is played between mixed doubles. If this set is won by the team leading in the total number of games, it wins the whole match. If this set is won by the team losing by the total number of games, overtime will be played until the lead team wins the first game or until the score is tied in games. When games are tied after five sets (with or without overtime), a super tie-break shall be played to determine the winning team. A super tie-break shall be played between mixed doubles up to seven points, with the thirteenth ball being served by the same player who served the twelfth, but the serving and receiving players must be of the same sex.

Tournament Records

• The highest number of titles won – 6 (Sacramento Capitals, Washington Kastles)
• Longest winning streak – 34 (Washington Kastles, 2011-2013)
• Participated in most seasons – 20 (Martina Navratilova)

Best Teams Of WTT 2023

 

Boston Lobsters

Philadelphia Freedoms

San Diego Aviators

Springfield Lasers

Texas Wild

Washington Kastles

How to Bet on Tennis? 

Grand tennis is the second most popular sport in bookmakers after soccer. Live betting on tennis is very popular, as tennis matches are much more dynamic than soccer, and the change of events here occurs much more often. Players who do not want to wait until they score a goal in soccer prefer to bet on the winners of games and sets right in the course of the match. That is why the volume of bets on tennis some days exceeds the volume of bets on soccer. How to bet on tennis, what to know and what to pay attention to?

Factors Which Influence Tennis Bets

• The ability to track the players 

In the case of soccer, tracking the physical and psychological state of the 11 key players of each team is extremely difficult. In tennis, this issue is much easier. All you need is just watch a couple of matches of a particular player and you can already draw conclusions about his or her current form. 

• The regularity of the competition

You can bet on tennis anytime, any day of the week. In contrast to soccer, where each championship has a couple of significant breaks in two or three weeks, the tennis season has only one break at the end of the calendar year, and even then within these 14 days there are 3-4 medium level tournaments, so tennis fans will never get bored.

• Numerous players’ comebacks

Bettors who are really well versed in tennis betting will undoubtedly confirm that this is an outstanding trait. We can observe the greatest number of phenomenal comebacks in women’s tennis. 

Types of Tennis Betting

• Outcome Betting

As you can easily guess, this bet offers to guess which of the two tennis players will be the winner of this match. 

• Handicap

With a handicap bet, you are trying to guess the approximate number of games one tennis player will win over the other. 

• Total

Total refers to a bet on the total number of games scored by both tennis players in a match.

• Set score

A set in tennis is the largest unit of score in a match. A bet on the set score offers to guess the final score of the games.

• Tennis Live-bets

On the live line, players often bet on the winner of one particular game. This strategy is suitable for experienced bettors who know how to assess the quality of play, serve, and reception of opponents.

As you can see, tennis betting is a whole science with its own formulas, influencing factors, variables and unknowns. That’s why tennis is so interesting not only for tennis players but also for bookmakers.